June 2023

The magic of a park sim is its ability to make time disappear. When you are in the zone building your park, managing the wants and needs of your attendees, and creating a self-sustaining financial juggernaut, there’s potential for an almost euphoric Zen from the best of the genre. At its best, Park Beyond hits these highs with interesting rides, a simple and compelling upgrade system, and a whimsical sense of imagination. But, like a poorly maintained rollercoaster, there’s a looming threat that things will fall apart with disastrous results. It’s this tendency for things to come off the rails that left me feeling queasy after spending a few days in this park.

A game like this lives and dies by its building mechanics, and Park Beyond is pretty solid in that regard. Crafting a thriving and growing park from scratch is a lot of fun: building paths, flat rides, roller coasters, and shops is easy, thanks in part to a simple interface and controls that are straightforward when it comes to the simple stuff.

After your grand opening there’s a linear, step-by-step process to upgrading and expanding your park that’s easy to understand and fun to execute. The capacity, and by extension income potential, of the park is limited at first. In the beginning there are only a few rides that can be built to entice customers. The amount of fun people have and the cleanliness of the park increases Park Appeal. Earn enough appeal and the park ranks up, increasing capacity and unlocking additional rides and shops.

In the 1980s, 16-time world champion Ric Flair popularized the expression, “To be The Man, you gotta beat The Man.” In professional wrestling games, “The Man” has been the WWE 2K franchise, existing completely unchallenged for the better part of a decade. Newcomer AEW Fight Forever’s challenge does not change the balance of power, but its audacity to try by leaning into arcadey design ideas from yesteryear and embracing a pick-up-and-play philosophy should be praised. It’s the noticeable lack of genre-standard features, an underwhelming single-player campaign, and a smattering of mechanical bugaboos that take the legs out from under it. This fighter isn’t ready for the main event just yet.

In the style department, Fight Forever comes out swinging with cartoony character models and energetic animations. Most of the 52 available competitors have well-rendered caricatures, with Kenny Omega and Jon Moxley’s among my favorites. Even the ones that seem off, like an air fryer-shaped Chris Jericho, get the benefit of not needing to be “realistic” to get the appropriate vibe across.

Due to a tangled web of licensing agreements it’s not possible to release a wrestling game with a roster that fully matches the television show, and many games come out featuring wrestlers who either don’t look the same now as they did when their character models were designed, or are no longer in the company. That said, there's some noticeable, almost inexcusable absences of characters and championships in the in-game roster that have been heavily featured in the real-life product for years, like Toni Storm and Daniel Garcia.

UPDATE: Sony has confirmed today's leak of the PlayStation Plus Essential lineup for July.

ORIGINAL STORY: July’s PlayStation Plus Essential games line-up has leaked online by way of the regularly reliable Dealabs user billbil-kun.

According to billbil-kun, July’s line-up includes Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, Alan Wake Remastered, and Endling: Extinction Is Forever and will go live July 2.

Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War is the 2020 first-person shooter developed primarily by Treyarch and Raven. IGN’s review returned a 7/10, saying “Cold War's quiet times are more memorable than the loud ones, even if the story’s ambition outweighs its execution”.

The timing of Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War’s inclusion in PlayStation Plus is interesting given the focus on Call of Duty’s exclusivity amid the FTC’s ongoing battle to block Microsoft from buying Activision Blizzard.

Free-to-play extraction shooter The Cycle: Frontier shuts down in September, developer Yager has announced.

Yager, developer of Spec Ops: The Line and Dreadnought, set the shutdown for September 27, 2023, calling the decision “very difficult” but “necessary”. Real money purchases are now disabled. Any purchases made from June 13 will be refunded.

The Cycle: Frontier is described as a “competitive quest shooter”, with player versus environment versus player combat. It launched in early access form in 2019, before launching proper last year.

“We are incredibly grateful for all your support during this wonderful journey, we couldn’t have done it without you!” Yager said in a tweet. “From the bottom of our hearts, thank you.”

Expanding on the decision in a blog post, Yager said The Cycle: Frontier was not “financially viable”.

“Despite our best efforts and meaningful improvements brought to the game since launch and up until the release of Season 3, the reality is that The Cycle: Frontier is unfortunately not financially viable,” the developer said in a statement.

So what went wrong? Yager said The Cycle: Frontier started strong, but soon faced “many challenges”, the “most crucial” being the increasing number of cheaters shortly after the game went live.

The FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 update has finally arrived in FIFA 23 alongside the Lead Your Country mode that lets players fill the shoes of any star player from the 32 international teams.

Those looking to truly revel in the glory themselves can also create a custom character and essentially star as themselves in the journey to become a world champion. The classic Kick Off and Tournament modes will be available too, with local co-op and competitive multiplayer available in both.

"In our most expansive EA Sports FIFA Women’s World Cup update ever, we are excited to celebrate the remarkable achievements of the teams competing in the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023, and to create an authentic in-game experience for players to lead their country to victory," said SVP and GM of EA Sports FC Nick Wlodyka.

"Our commitment to women’s football is foundational, and we look forward to evolving and delivering on this promise for our EA SPORTS FC community."

FIFA 23 is the most successful game in franchise history, which will likely be a pleasing send-off for EA — and perhaps a slightly worrying one for the actual FIFA association — as next year's entry will be called EA Sports FC.

EA ditched the brand name after FIFA reportedly asked for $1 billion every four years for the name alone, spurring EA CEO Andrew Wilson to comment that all it gets from FIFA is "four letters on the front of the box".

Nintendo has added four classic Sega Genesis games to the Nintendo Switch Online library including Ghouls ‘n Ghosts and The Revenge of Shinobi.

Announced in a tweet (below), these games are joined by Crusader of Centy and Landstalker and are available now for anyone who owns Nintendo Switch Online and its Expansion Pack.

Ghouls 'N Ghosts is Capcom's side scrolling sequel to Ghosts 'n Goblins, while The Revenge of Shinobi is a hack and slash action game from Sega itself.

Four classic SEGA Genesis games have just been made available for #NintendoSwitchOnline + Expansion Pack members!

☑️ Ghouls ‘n Ghosts
☑️ Crusader of Centy
☑️ Landstalker
☑️ The Revenge of Shinobi pic.twitter.com/Kwr1pybnNY

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) June 28, 2023

Crusader of Centy is an action adventure game from Nextech and, sticking to the theme, Landstalker is another action adventure game, this time from Climax Entertainment.

Subscribing to Nintendo Switch Online and its Expansion Pack will also grant users access to games from the NES, Game Boy, and other classic consoles, with the most recent addition before these four being Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade from Game Boy Advance.

As the debate about the chances of getting Diablo 4’s most powerful and rare items rages on, one player has confirmed the world first drop of the Andariel's Visage super rare unique item.

WowHead reported a Diablo 4 Barbarian called YesYou was the lucky recipient of the coveted helm. Polish streamer NadinWins subsequently shared the drop on YouTube, showing off its powerful, one-of-a-kind Life Steal modifier.

The player behind YesYou, called Lithie, is the first in the world the community knows about to get Andariel's Visage. As Blizzard recently confirmed, there are currently six of these super rare unique items in the game, and only a handful of finds have surfaced since Diablo 4 went live earlier this month.

Given the hundreds of millions of hours Diablo 4 has already been played for, the drop rate of these six items is clearly miniscule, causing many in the community to call on Blizzard to take action. In the meantime, amid these eye-catching item finds, players are comparing super rare unique item drop rates to other real-life impossibilities to highlight just how pointless any grind for them is.

Final Fantasy 16's Torgal, who's a giant grey dog for those unfamiliar, is driving dogs in the real world barking mad.

Torgal is one of protagonist Clive's companions in the game, and when players aren't fighting savage monsters or evil knights, an option to pet Torgal becomes available.

Clive will kneel down and pet Torgal if players press X nearby, and it's this mechanic that's causing such a fuss for dogs in the real world.

I'm watching my brothers dog and she won't let me pet Torgal. Loses her mind if I try. She barely accepts him being on screen right now. pic.twitter.com/k4sqbGoSah

— Alan (@LastGunslinger9) June 26, 2023

Reddit user Luthalis was the first to share their dog's reaction. Posting a video on Reddit titled "Torgal keeps making my dog jealous", Luthalis showed their dog getting antsy when petting Torgal in the game.

"I'm watching my brother's dog and she won't let me Pet Torgal," added a Twitter user (above). "Loses her mind if I try. She barely accepts him being on screen right now."

Another user follow up with a similar video, in which their dog runs across the room and jumps towards the TV when Clive kneels down to pet Torgal on the screen.

A fresh Red Dead Redemption rating in South Korea has sparked rumours about a possible remake or remaster.

As spotted by Idle Sloth on Twitter (below), South Korea's Game Rating and Administration Committee (GRAC) could be at the centre of another leak after listing something simply titled "Red Dead Redemption" earlier in June.

The listing is completely separate from the original 2010 Red Dead Redemption as the rating for this can still be seen on GRAC's website, as well as Red Dead Redemption 2, which is also listed as its own entity.

Nothing else is given away in the listing, except that this version of Red Dead Redemption has also been rated as an 18.

The South Korean ratings board has been the source of many leaks in the past few years. GRAC listed the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 campaign remaster ahead of its official announcement, for example, and recently leaked the unannounced LEGO football video game from 2K.

Its ratings do not indicate anything concrete regarding a potential release date, but both God of War: Ragnarok and Marvel's Midnight Suns were listed roughly six months before their launches last year.

Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile is coming to mobile devices this Fall, according to Activision CEO Bobby Kotick.

Taking the witness stand for today's portion of the Microsoft FTC trial, Kotick revealed the release window for the mobile version of Warzone. Previously, we only knew that Warzone Mobile was coming sometime in 2023.

First revealed in September of last year, Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile is built from the ground up for Apple and Android devices. Warzone is different from the current Call of Duty: Mobile in that Activision is developing it in-house, whereas Mobile was developed by Chinese developer Tencent.

We got to go hands-on with Warzone Mobile, where we said, "Squeezing Warzone onto mobile devices is no easy task but Activision has managed to introduce it to the platform without much compromise to the game’s DNA. It still looks and feels very much like Warzone, with each new tweak ensuring that the experience translates to mobile as smoothly as possible."

Kotick is testifying in the hearing that could determine the fate of Microsoft's proposed $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. To keep up with everything that's happened, check out our full recap of the trial's first three days.

Final Fantasy 16 sold over 3 million copies during its first week on sale, Square Enix has announced.

Square Enix said the milestone includes both physical and digital sales on PlayStation 5. Physical sales for the game in the UK were reportedly 74% lower than those of its predecessor, Final Fantasy 15. Still, Final Fantasy 16 was the top overall seller during its launch week.

We’re delighted to announce we’ve shipped and digitally sold 3 million copies of Final Fantasy XVI on PlayStation 5. Thank you for your support! #FF16 pic.twitter.com/8YGfo1RXyV

— FINAL FANTASY XVI (@finalfantasyxvi) June 28, 2023

The solid sales number should be considered with the caveat Final Fantasy 16 is only available on PS5. Final Fantasy 7 Remake shifted 3.5 million copies in three days when it launched as a PlayStation 4 exclusive in April 2020, but that was to a much larger install base of consoles than PS5 currently enjoys. Final Fantasy 15 sold 5 million units in its first day, but that game launched on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in November 2016. Final Fantasy 15 remains the fastest-selling game in the history of the series.

Pokémon Go developer Niantic Labs has caused frustration among fans for once again taking steps towards making the game more accessible before quickly walking them back.

On June 27, Niantic made Pokémon Go fully compatible with Campfire — its social app designed to link players up in-game — and also updated the game to double the catch radius from 40 metres to 80.

Both changes were heralded as Niantic taking strong strides towards improving accessibility in a game that's often been criticised for lacking in this department, but it wasn't long before the developer rolled back one of these changes.

In a tweet from Niantic's support account (below), the developer said the increased spawn radius was just a mistake. "This was the unintended effect of a bug fix intended to improve the Pokémon encounter experience when your device is experiencing GPS drift," it said. "While we’re reverting this change, we will take your feedback into consideration as we look to optimize the Pokémon encounter experience in the future."

Some Trainers may have experienced an increase to the current interaction radius. This was the unintended effect of a bug fix intended to improve the Pokémon encounter experience when your device is experiencing GPS drift. While we’re reverting this change, we will take your…

Bohemia Interactive is apparently working on a sequel to DayZ, according to a new court document.

An internal Xbox document submitted as evidence as part of the evidentiary hearing between Microsoft and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) showed the company's acquisition strategy as of May 2021. On the slide focused on Bohemia Interactive, the document's additional notes revealed the company was working on DayZ 2.

The document also revealed the developer is working on Arma Reforger and Arma 4, but those games have already been confirmed to be in development, while DayZ 2 has not. "While we are expanding our focus regarding the possibilities of the DayZ game, brand, and team itself, we can't offer too many details at the moment," a Bohemia Interactive spokesperson told IGN. "There are numerous projects Bohemia Interactive dev teams are currently exploring/working on, but they will be officially revealed when & only after we feel the time is right."

Originally starting off as a mod for Arma 2 before becoming an early access game, DayZ officially launched out of early access in 2018 on PC.

The team behind ambitious mod Fallout London has delayed its release to avoid the “elephant in the room” that is Starfield.

In a video update, project lead Prilladog admitted the delay of Bethesda’s upcoming behemoth to September caused Fallout London to move from launching around the same time to the fourth quarter of this year (some time from October to December).

“Initially we had hoped for it to be in the third quarter, as in the one that’s coming up,” Prilladog said. “However a certain space game got delayed, and is now scheduled to come out around the same time we had planned.

“So, as a result, we’re making our release for the last quarter. This not only gives you all more time to play Starfield, but also allows us more time for playtesting and bug fixing, so it’s a win-win situation, right? We just appreciate your patience. So expect us around then.”

In a thinly-veiled jab at Starfield, Prilladog pointed out the Fallen London mod team is free from shareholders “breathing down our necks” and forcing a release before the project is ready. “We hope our mod will be the perfect holiday gift for you all,” he concluded.

Spoiler Warning: The below article features major spoilers for Final Fantasy 16 and Kingdom Hearts 3.

Donald Duck is no longer the most powerful mage in the history of Final Fantasy thanks to a new big bad taking the title in Final Fantasy 16.

The long awaited RPG is full of humongous, powerful monsters called Eikon that represent Summons from the series' past — Ifrit, Shiva, Phoenix, and so on — and one of these beasties has now wielded the series' most powerful spell.

That Eikon is, final spoiler warning, Bahamut, the legendary dragon king from all the way back in 1987's original Final Fantasy. Bahamut has since appeared in most games in the franchise though, and is considered one of the most powerful magic users.

At a significant moment in Final Fantasy 16 Bahamut wields a spell called Zettaflare, which is an evolution of his previously most powerful spell Megaflare and its variations Gigaflare and Teraflare. This absolutely makes the dragon king the most powerful mage in Final Fantasy lore, with the small caveat that Donald Duck got there first.

In Kingdom Hearts 3, at what is now a heavily mocked moment, Donald Duck wields Zettaflare himself. The move defeats the big bad and knocks Donald unconscious, rightly so, because no character, not even Bahamut, had been capable of wielding Zettaflare previously.

Thanks to Final Fantasy 16, however, Bahamut has regained the most powerful mage title for himself.