NFTs and the blockchain were supposed to take GameStop to the moon. Now the flagging video game retailer is dropping support for its crypto wallet as the Securities and Exchange Commission threatens to crackdown on the burgeoning nexus of finance, tech, and online gambling. It’s the latest high-profile misfire for the…
In this week's episode of The Game Informer Show, returning guest Kenneth Shepard (Kotaku, Normandy FM) joins us to discuss why Baldur's Gate 3 is one of the best RPGs of 2023, despite the fact we're still working our way through the massive game. Additionally, Marcus clues the crew in on his time spent solving puzzles in Viewfinder and his preview impressions of Palia, an MMO-like life sim currently in closed beta.
Follow us on social media: Alex Van Aken (@itsVanAken), Marcus Stewart (@MarcusStewart7), Charles Harte (@Chuckduck365), Kenneth Shepard (@ShepardCDR)
The Aug. 2 release of Warzone Season 5 brought countless changes to the battle royale, DMZ, and MW2 annual installment. It might have also fixed the dreaded ‘dev error’ issue facing players in the extraction mode.
For a number of weeks now, Warzone’s DMZ mode has been plagued by a developer error affecting players when they travel to Building 21 and the Koschei Complex. There’s been a lot of silence from the devs too, but with Warzone Season 5 it’s finally been addressed.
The voice actors of the cast in Detroit: Become Human truly bring life to the characters in the game. Their performances captivated me and enhanced my immersive experience. Such efforts deserve recognition as they demonstrate the value and power of voice acting in the world of gaming. Here are all of the voice actors in Detroit: Become Human alongside the characters they play.
North is a WR400 android that accompanies Markus on his journey in Detroit: Become Human. She is voiced by and modeled after Minka Kelly, an actress born in Los Angeles, California – the only child of former Aerosmith guitarist, Rick Dufay, and Maureen Kelly. Detroit: Become Human is her first appearance in a video game, having typically acted in TV series such as Charlie’s Angels and The Path.
Since the Nintendo Switch’s release, the console has continued to thrive in sales and popularity thanks to its ever-growing gaming collection and updated models. But now that the device has been out for quite some time, many fans are wondering about the next phase for the company.
Fortunately, there has been a new development on this front regarding the new generational devices. According to sources from VGC, the next Nintendo model is expected to release in the “second half of 2024,” given that this period will give the company enough time to implement the proper storage capacity on Day One launch.
It is once more that time of year when the searing heat drives us underground, to subsist on raw snacks, re-read The Book Of Phoenix, and play this year's Low-Intensity Strategy Game For When It's Actually Refreshingly Temperate And Rainy Out But We're Committed To The Bit Now.
Myriads Colon Renaissance is not quite the break from the 4X that I'd tried to get us, but it is a hybrid. You build up a city, explore and conquer new lands, unlock research and ultimately push everyone's faces in, but its other main pillar is tower defence, a genre I very rarely align with. Which is a good sign, right? Two good reasons not to choose it, but I am anyway.
How does one make a sequel to a basically perfect game? 2007's physics-platformer-in-a-weird-science-facility Portal is a lodestar piece of game design from top to bottom. It's one of my favourite games, and I went into 2011's Portal 2 with many a reservation. But it's very good! And there are so many things I love about Portal 2 that it's quite hard to pick just one thing to write about.
I could do "the joy of Portal 2's retro science", where you fall through the floor into the old school Aperture Science labs and see the 60s-ish version of all the big buttons and testing chambers you were put through in the first Portal. I could do "the joy of the corrupted personality cores in Portal 2", a group of corrupted AI spheres including Rick The Adventure Sphere, which is largely just Nolan North making up his own action theme song. I could even do "the joy of potatoes in Portal 2". And then I realised that most of the things I like about Portal 2 also intersect with Stephen Merchant's character Wheatley, a weird little guy (in the most pejorative sense).
There's always been quite a disconnect between Revenant's reputation and his abilities in Apex Legends. All the cinematics we get of this infamous, terrifying murder-bot show him single-mindedly pursuing his targets, scuttling along walls, and wiping out enemies at close range like a cybernetic John Wick. But once you get in-game, his toolkit has always been fairly underwhelming - with the exception of his Death Totem, which never seemed to sit well thematically with the character.
Season 18 of Apex looks to change all that. Revenant is finally getting the love he deserves with a new sinister-looking base skin and a full rework of all his abilities. And guys, I think they might have gone a bit too far making him scary again. I think he might be overpowered.
With Baldur's Gate 3 finally out of early access, I'm sure many of you will be busy creating your own custom characters right now as you begin your journey through Larian's RPG epic. But I implore you to take a moment to remember the great Losiir, a Githyanki soldier who most of you will probably never meet. That's because he only shows up if you pick Lae'zel as your origin character, because who else would be there to do her fancy sword lunge from above if not a gender-swapped version of basically herself? But he's a good egg, Losiir, even if his run-time as an official Baldur's Gate companion is, err, somewhat short-lived.
Two Point Campus’ second major expansion pack is throwing things back to the first daft management game in the series, Two Point Hospital. Publishers Sega have announced that Two Point Campus: Medical School is coming on August 17th and it's shipping our students off to learn how to cure diseases, inject butts, and replace heads with lightbulbs. Seriously, check it out below.
The Seagate FireCuda 530 is one of the best NVMe SSDs for PC and PS5, and today you can pick up the 2TB heatsink model for just £126. That's an awesome price for one of the very fastest SSDs on the market, one that's on par with our favourite favourite PCIe 4.0 SSD for gaming, the Samsung 980 Pro and WD SN850. Normally we'd expect to pay closer to £160 for this model, making it a solid £30+ savings.
Update, and a rather important one at that: The crashing issues I’ve had with Baldur’s Gate 3 on the Steam Deck have been, as far as I can tell, fully fixed. No more collapsing back to the Steam library on startup, and no forcing the use of Proton Experimental – it should launch and work straight away. Valve have even upgraded Baldur’s Gate 3 from Playable to Verified for Steam Deck play, reflecting its newfound handheld-readiness.
This means you can safely ignore the first part of this article, where I whinge about software instability as if it’s the the most heinous atrocity humankind has ever inflicted on itself. All the stuff on general performance, settings, and battery life still applies.
Hironobu Sakaguchi, the creator and grand-daddy of the famed Final Fantasy series, previously expressed the desire to bring his newest RPG Fantasian over to PC. The game has been locked on subscription service Apple Arcade since 2021, but that might change soon. Maybe. Hopefully. That's according to an apparent listing for the game on SteamDB, suggesting that a PC port could be on the table.
Hello folks. It sure has been a while, hasn't it? Huge apologies for that. I would say it's been an unusually busy year, but then again, it's always a busy year, so I really have no excuse. Sorry about that. But! After some much appreciated feedback on how I can improve these Letters From The Editor, I return to you today with some notes and thoughts about how we're going to cover Baldur's Gate 3. I'll tell you now, it's going to be a while before you see our review, as review code only arrived a couple of days ago.
In the run-up to Baldur's Gate 3 leaving early access, developers Larian Studios have understandably put a lot of emphasis on the game's custom character creation, what with it being much more firmly ingrained in the world of Dungeons & Dragons and role-playing more generally than, say, their previous Divinity games. But before you jump into creating your favourite D&D build, do take a moment to watch the Introductions for each of its fixed origin characters, too. They're great fun, well-written and have some good jokes in them, but they also reveal some important details about your companions-to-be that you might not have gleaned otherwise. They're also very easy to miss if you're not careful.
Guess what? James and I, and a lot of other folk at RPS, are all learning the importance of rolling for initiative this week, because we're playing Baldur's Gate 3! Larian's take on what is essentially the official cRPG version of Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition is out of early access today and boy, is it a doozy. So we answer your questions and Nates, and talk about animal forms and rolling for initiative and why the DM is a git. Plus, James has been struggling to get the game working on Steam Deck. Sometimes it does!
If you’ve been resisting Baldur’s Gate 3’s early access run to save yourself for the full release, there’s good news for both of us: you can fill your knowledge boots with this guide to the launch build’s PC performance and best settings, and I get to avoid feeling like I’m just giving advice to people who’ve been playing this gigantic RPG for two years longer than me. Hell yeah.
The distance from the roof of the Counting House to the nearest building in Baldur’s Gate is vast, by design. The waterfront bank where the city’s great, good and gangster store their gold stands with its back to the sea, while a long and well-guarded bridge extends from its maw, like a money-hungry tongue. Legend says its top two floors are entirely without windows, the House an eyeless god to the citizens who reside on the hillside that slopes down toward the docks. So how was Gale, the wizard prodigy, able to bound from a faraway balcony to the brim of the bank, as if stepping lazily out onto his porch with a mug of coffee? Some say strange sorcery was afoot, but I’ve seen his character sheet, and so can be more specific.
Upon levelling up, Gale multiclassed as a sorcerer - an odd choice, but one that allowed him to unlock the ability to throw magic from a great range. Suddenly, while casting a teleport spell, this hybrid mage was able to reach across the wide moat of the Counting House and land safely on a high ledge. It’s one of many obscure class synergies via which, Larian imagines, you’ll be able to break their level design in unexpected and entertaining ways.
Bungie revealed major details about Destiny 2 season 22 in a State of the Game blog update. From overhauls to Crucible to the debut of a new Exotic weapon mode, the August 2023 patch will bring substantial changes. The Season of the Deep will be coming to an end on August 22, 2023, and Destiny 2 season 22 will debut that same day.
While there is still much unknown about the future expansion, Bungie finally gave us a huge sneak peek. In a surprise State of the Game blog post, the Sony developer outlined a slew of features and changes coming to Destiny 2 in the August update.
Veteran players looking for new PVP content will gain access to a new Vex map called the Multiplex. Crucible will be updated with a new 6v6 Relic mode, as well as the debut of the Checkmate modifier system.
Here is the full list of everything being added to Destiny 2 season 22 so far:
With a month left to go, the Ratatan Kickstarter has exceeded its goal of $139,615. As of the time of writing, backers have pledged over $600,000 for the Patapon spiritual successor. According to a badge on its Kickstarter page, it reached its initial goal in under an hour. Thanks to it meeting its stretch goals, console versions are now also in development.
So far, the stretch goals that the Ratatan Kickstarter met are:
Other stretch goals are for the game to come out in FIGS languages and the ability to customize your fortrun.
There is some new information on Ratatan on the Kickstarter as well. As a reminder, it is a combination rhythm, side-scroller action, and roguelike game. You have to issue orders to your cobun using the rhythm and strategize on the fly. A video of how it works is available on the Kickstarter for the game.
In Ratatan, you control the eponymous Ratatans. They are adventurers who can use magical instruments, Melodium, to command the Cobun. Each melodium provides a different effect. For example, Harigittan (whom Hika Tsukishiro voices) is good at defense and counters. Nyandola (voiced by Haruna Yuzuki) is an assassin whose kit accordingly focuses on sneaking up on targets.
For the twentieth anniversary of Siren, Sony Interactive Entertainment uploaded a remastered version of the soundtrack onto streaming services. You can listen to it on Apple Music and Spotify. You can also purchase it via sites such as the iTunes Store and Amazon Music. [Thanks, Famitsu!]
Aside from the ambient-filled tunes that you would hear as you snuck around Hanuda, there are also tracks for more memorable moments. An example of such a track would be “The Buster,” which plays during the ending in which Kyoya Suda goes around Hanuda and kills all of the Shibito he sees. In total, here are thirty songs.
In commemoration of the remastered Siren soundtrack appearing on streaming sites, the PlayStation Japan Spotify account put together a playlist for soundtracks from horror and action games. As of the time of writing, the main visual for the Siren soundtrack serves as the cover. Other games with soundtracks in that playlist include Resident Evil Village, Silent Hill 3, Rule of Rose, and Dead by Daylight.
Tohan released digital NFT goods for Corpse Party in commemoration of Mages developing a new game in the series. This upcoming game will be the first in ten years since the last one. In total, there are five boxes for 2420 JPY ($16.90) each. [Thanks, PR Times!]
Each Corpse Party NFT box includes an exclusive short story, a video tutorial of Sachiko Ever After, and two student handbooks for the box characters.
The five pairs for each box are:
Tohan will only sell sixty of each box, so if you’re interested in one, it’s on a first-come-first-serve basis.
Prime 1 Studio announced that the Devil May Cry 3 version of Dante will be joining its Ultimate Premium Masterline Series of figures. As expected from the premium collectible manufacturer, it’s a pricey one, listed as $1,199 for the Deluxe Bonus Version and $999 for the Regular Version. The expected release date is sometime between November 2023 and February 2025.
The 1/4 scale figure stands at around 26 inches tall and uses Dante’s younger, shirtless look from Devil May Cry 3. He's posed standing on top of a defeated foe. The figure comes with three swappable head parts, featuring a “normal” head, a smirking expression, and a shouting face. His hand parts can also be swapped out to change his weapons. He comes equipped with his iconic Ebony & Ivory guns and Rebellion sword in the Regular Version. In addition, Prime 1 Studio confirmed that a Devil May Cry 3 Vergil is also on the way.
The Deluxe Version of Dante also comes with Nevan, the guitar-based Devil Arm. It comes with two Devil May Cry 3 logo displays, one based on the Japanese and North American release and the other based on the European release. The Bonus Version of the figure also comes with a hand part allowing Dante to hold a pizza slice, as a reference to the game’s opening chapter.
Baldur's Gate 3 developer Larian has spoken a little about acquisitions following recent reports the studio had, at one time, been on Microsoft's consideration list for a potential buy-out, saying it has no plans to sell to anyone anytime soon.
Microsoft's watchlist for potential studio acquisitions first surfaced back in June during its court battle with US antitrust agency the Federal Trade Commision over its planned Activision Blizzard deal, with the likes of Sega, Bungie, CD Projekt Red, No Man's Sky studio Hello Games, Hitman developer IO Interactive, Pokémon Go creator Niantic, and Hades studio Supergiant Games all appearing on its 2021 "consideration set".
Also on there was Larian Studios - which has made the acclaimed likes of Divinity: Original Sin prior to today's eagerly awaited Baldur's Gate 3 - and, now, founder and CEO Swen Vincke has shared more of his thoughts on such acquisitions in an interview with Bloomberg.
Fantasian, from Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi, may be on its way to Steam.
A listing for an unknown app (Fantasian Playtest) has been spotted on SteamDB, suggesting a port of the Apple Arcade exclusive could be imminent.
It remains unclear whether it may also appear on other platforms.
Baldur's Gate 3's launch is finally here and, as preloading wasn't an option, Steam is having a bit of a wobble as players race to download it.
Developer Larian Studios’ founder and CEO Swen Vincke tweeted a screenshot of user-reported Steam problems (below), which spiked on August 3 at 8am Pacific / 11am Eastern / 4pm UK when Baldur's Gate 3 launched. "Sorry", Vincke posted alongside the screenshot.
Other users are reporting issues too, with Ollie Wood on Twitter showing his empty progress bar that simply said "Busy", indicating they couldn't download it yet. IGN's own download of the game is also taking its time.
Sorry https://t.co/m2PxYBNNsl
— Swen Vincke @where? (@LarAtLarian) August 3, 2023
The highly anticipated role-playing game has been in Early Access on Steam since October 2020 but is now finally available proper, though Larian confirmed earlier in August that the hefty 122GB file size could not be downloaded ahead of time.
The developer also recommended players delete the Early Access version alongside any save files and mods and do a fresh install of the full version to make sure things go smoothly.
Capcom’s Resident Evil 2 remake has sold more copies than any other title in the horror franchise’s 27-year history, after passing 12.6 million cumulative lifetime sales across console and PC.
Earlier this week Capcom updated its sales record for the 114 ‘platinum’ titles' the company has created throughout the years that have sold through one million units. The new list, which takes into account games sold up until the June 30 cutoff, revealed that Capcom's Resident Evil 2 remake has now sold over 12.6 million units since its Januray 2019 launch.
12.6 million sales is enough to place the remake at the top of the franchise’s best-seller list, dethroning the previous record holder Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, which has sold 12.4 million copies In the six years since its January 2017 release.
It also made the Resident Evil 2 remake the third best-selling game in the history of the company, with only 2021's Monster Hunter Rise (13.2 million units), and 2018's Monster Hunter World (19 million units) surpassing its record.
Baldur’s Gate 3 has become a cultural phenomenon in 2023. The CRPG has been sweeping awards this season, perhaps most notably the coveted Game of the Year title at this year’s Game Awards. (Director Swen Vincke even accepted the award in a full suit of armor.) Getting third place on Kotaku’s list might not merit the…
It’s been a messy time for Destiny 2 as players burn out on existing content and revolt against some of the game’s increasingly pricey microtransactions. Five months after Lightfall’s troubled launch, Bungie took the opportunity to update players on the state of the game and what’s to come, including new content,…
Radiant Silvergun, widely considered one of the best shoot 'em ups ever made, is finally coming to PC. Developed by Treasure, who are perhaps best known for Silvergun's successor Ikaruga, it'll arrive via Steam on August 18th with local co-op, online leaderboards and downloadable replays.
Studios like Rockstar can capture the essence of New York in a video game, but New York is a city full of famous landmarks. SCS Software, by comparison, have become masters at capturing the essence of places of no significance. The long freeway, the vacant parking lot, the anonymous storage warehouse, the nowhere town; all are rendered with such care and detail in American Truck Simulator that they become as compelling to me as any virtual Times Square.
The latest example: Oklahoma, now available in ATS's latest DLC. Watch the launch trailer below and see if it doesn't make you want to take a road trip.
Eyes might currently be on THQ Nordic's remake of cult-classic action-RPG Gothic, but the company has unexpectedly announced it'll be bringing the two-decade-old original version to Switch on 28th September, with a huge number of fixes.
The original Gothic, which was created by developer Piranha Bytes and released in 2001, follows the story of a convicted prisoner who finds himself on a quest across a dangerous medieval fantasy realm. Its mix of action-orientated open-world exploration and RPG-style customisation has garnered something of a cult following over the years, leading THQ Nordic to start canvassing interest in a remake back in 2019.
It's the 2001 release that's coming to Switch, however, with THQ Nordic promising "great performance and a well adapted user interface and controls" across the 50+ hour adventure. And while the company is clear the Switch port is "the original game code, no remastering, and no remaking", it also shared an absolutely enormous list of fixes it's made for the release.
Danganronpa creator Kazutaka Kodaka sat down with Keiichiro Toyama at Bokeh Game Studios to talk about his development process. The interview was recorded as part of Bokeh’s regular "Golden Hour" series, where Toyama talks with developers across the industry. During their chat, Kodaka discussed his inspirations, his experience working with voice actors and the challenges of setting up his own company.
When discussing the inspirations behind the Danganronpa series, Kodaka talked about how he was heavily inspired by the manga Dragon Head and The Drifting Classroom. He also cited the original Battle Royale novel as a major inspiration too. He talked about how he meticulously plans out his storylines and likes to hear when players get so hooked on his stories that they play in one sitting.
The interview also touched on the development of Kodaka’s latest title, Master Detective Archives: Rain Code. He explained that the process of recording voice actors for the new game was different from doing the same for Danganronpa. He talked about how there were a lot of retakes, due to frequent changes to the script over the game’s six-year development.
Kodaka also discussed the challenges of setting up Too Kyo Games, the development studio he founded with fellow Danganronpa team members Rui Komatsuzaki and Masafumi Takada, along with Zero Escape director Kotaro Uchikoshi. He also joked about working with Uchikoshi, who he claims sleeps all day and works through the night.
Megahobby revealed three new Yu-Gi-Oh figures belonging to the Monsters Chronicle line. The figures are based on the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, the Dark Paladin, and the Dark Necrofear monster cards. Pre-orders for all three figures will be available from the Premium Bandai online store on August 4, 2023.
The Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon and Dark Paladin figures cost 6,380 JPY (or about $44), while the Dark Necrofear figure costs 7,040 JPY (~$49). The release date for the new line of Monsters Chronicle figures is December 2023. Each one is a static figure, standing at around 5.5 inches (or 14 cm) tall.
You can check out each of the new Yu-Gi-Oh figures in more detail here:
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Megahobby unveiled the first volume of Monster Chronicles figures on November 2022. The monster cards featured in the first volume includes the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, the Red-Eyes Black Dragon, and Insect Queen.
Gamescom 2023 will be another event to showcase the latest in video games, with presentations for those tuning in from home. Of the big three, one just confirmed. Microsoft will be at gamescom 2023. It also shared a schedule for the event.
Microsoft confirmed that it will be at gamescom 2023, specifically to show off what Xbox has in the works. Players who attend in person in Cologne will have over 30 games to play at the Xbox booth, including Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon, Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, and Persona 5 Tactica. They will also be able to sit down for theatre presentations for Starfield, Forza Motorsport, and Ara: History Untold.
For those watching online, Xbox is hosting livestreams August 23-25, 2023. These will be three-hour streams from the Xbox booth on the show floor where you can expect to see gameplay, developers, and community segments.
You will be able to watch Xbox at gamescom 2023 on Microsoft’s official YouTube, Twitch, and Facebook channels at the following dates and times:
We're about to set off on another Sword Art Onlinejourney into the Underworld alongside familiar characters. Sword Art Online: Last Recollection is on the way in October 2023. To help prepare for this latest adventure alongside Kirito, Siliconera spoke to Lead Producer Eisuke Uen about what went into its development and design.
Jenni Lada: When did development on Sword Art Online: Last Recollection begin?
Eisuke Uen: Development began in 2019, where the project was developed to give closure to the story of "Final Stress Test" which had been hinted at in Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris.
How influential were the Sword Art Online anime, manga, light novels, and past games on this latest installment and its characters?
Uen: Although many adjustments have been made to the game, such as improving the overall gameplay speed and replacing the game engine, the core of the "MMO-like" gameplay has been carried over from the previous titles.
Baldur's Gate 3 is off to a big start on Twitch and Steam. The highly-anticipated new RPG by Larian Studios excited early access earlier today, whereupon it quickly rocketed to a strong 308,000 concurrents on Steam and has since risen to 340,000. Not too bad for a hardcore RPG that had been broadly overlooked by the mainstream gaming population during its early access period.
It's a similar story on Twitch, where it currently sits at around 480,000 viewers thanks to the support of prominent streamers such as CohhCarnage and sodapoppin.
Steam rocking 59.3 Tbps right now in NA. Folks thirsty for Baldur's Gate. pic.twitter.com/Dg4M7DfkUe
— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) August 3, 2023
Baldur's Gate 3's launch numbers are partly owed to the interest spurred by the news that it will be possible to romance a bear (or should we say, a Druid in bear form). Interest in Baldur's Gate 3's romantic options propelled it up Steam's best-sellers list, suddenly making it one of the hottest releases of the summer. It was aided by Larian's decision to move up its release on PC, giving it as a clear release window.
I’m an uncompromising, loud-mouthed Halo apologist, but even I fell off of Halo Infinite. Despite 343 Industries’ latest game feeling just as good as a Halo game should, its strange, staccato launch and lack of new maps surrounded it with an air of perpetual stagnation for nearly two years. As such, I played it on and…
Destiny 2 players have spent a long time waiting for answers to some of the loot shooter’s biggest questions. Bungie claims they’re coming in 2024’s The Final Shape expansion, and they won’t be dragged out across four seasonal story updates like some of the most important parts of Lightfall were.
When Fae Farm comes to the Switch and PC via Steam and Epic Games Store, it will also include cross-play on all platforms. As long as you own a copy of the game, you'll be able to interact with and play with others who also picked up the game. In addition, Phoenix Labs introduced a new weekly "show" that will follow features and introduce the game to people, with the first episode debuting on August 4, 2023.
The announcement didn’t go over exactly how cross-play will work in Fae Farm. However, the game supports multiplayer for up to four people. They can work on a farm together. Both local and online multiplayer is available, though cross-play only applies to the online option.
As for the new “show,” every week the team will appear on Twitch. When they do, they will introduce a different feature or focus on a gameplay element. So for the August 4, 2023 episode at 12pm PT/3pm ET/9pm CET, the focus will be on Fae Farm cross-play. Subsequent episodes will all air on every Friday until the September 8, 2023 debut.
Fae Farm will come to the Nintendo Switch and PC via Epic Games Store and Steam on September 8, 2023 and will include cross-play.
The post Fae Farm Will Support Cross-Play Multiplayer on the Switch and PC appeared first on Siliconera.