There are a lot of planets and star systems to explore in Starfield, Bethesda’s latest sci-fi open-world RPG. To get around the black cosmos, though, you’re going to need a pretty good ship, and while you’re gifted one at the start of the campaign, there’s one that’s better in almost every way.
Early September looks pretty nice for Xbox’s subscription service Game Pass. In a September 5 blog post, the company announced subscribers could expect to play action role-playing game Starfield, moody Soulslike Lies of P, and more in the first few weeks before fall.
Starfield launches on September 6, but if you shelled out a few extra credits for the premium edition, you might already be well on your way to charting out your path among the stars. Either way, if you haven’t finished the main quest and have been hearing about the game’s New Game Plus mode (a first for Bethesda),…
Starfield’s upscaling controversy on PC continues. The person responsible for the open-world sci-fi RPG’s most popular mod offering DLSS2 support has now created one for DLSS3 as well. It’s locked behind a Patreon paywall though, angering some in the mod community and leading a few to circumvent the project’s DRM and…
Though Starfield isn’t even out of its Early Access period yet (its full release will happen at 12:00 a.m. UTC on September 6, or 8 p.m. Eastern on September 5), one speedrunner has already managed to beat Bethesda’s hundreds-of-hours long game in less time than it takes to watch Barbenheimer. The speedrunner,…
Square Enix will be releasing two new Kingdom Hearts Keyblades that light-up on February 24, 2024. The light-up Kingdom Key Dark features a gold blade, gold keychain with the iconic Mickey Mouse emblem, and silver guard. The iconic Kingdom Key version features a silver blade, silver keychain, and gold guard. Within the pommel of the Keyblade is the battery port, and the switch to turn on the light is hidden on the underside of the guard. The light that comes out of the tip of the blade is shaped like a keyhole and is meant to replicate the iconography of unlocking and locking keyholes in the series. The light-up Kingdom Hearts Keyblades will cost ¥6,380 (~$43) each and do not include batteries.
Photos of the Keyblades can be viewed below:
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A new Final Fantasy game debuts in 2023, but it’s also sort of an old one. Square Enix is bringing Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis to mobile devices, and that means lots of characters will show up again. However, while the cast of the original games’ storylines might be large, the number of playable people in these adaptations will be a bit smaller at launch. So, here’s who you can expect to add to teams initially.
Right now, we know of nine playable characters for Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis. You can access them without having to worry about a gacha. They’re just generally available. However, you do need to use the gacha to get improved equipment for them.
First, here are the three new playable characters from the Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier storyline.
While that story will feature young Sephiroth, he isn’t a playable character when it begins.
Next, here is the list of Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII folks you can use.
Yup! We’re only seeing Zack at launch. Perhaps we’ll see some sort of update later that could add a different version of Cloud Strife or Angeal Hewley.
Finally, here are the main entry people who will be a part of the playable cast at launch.
Koei Tecmo and Gust released two new Atelier Resleriana character spotlight videos focused on Judie and Viorate “Vio” Platane. They are two returning protagonists from previous Atelier entries. Judie was already confirmed as one of the Atelier protagonists that will appear in the upcoming main game in the Atelier series. Meanwhile, Viorate Platane is a new addition to the roster of returning Atelier protagonists.
Each video is approximately 13 seconds long and it showcases the characters in combat. Judith “Judie” Volltone made her first appearance in Atelier Judie: The Alchemist of Gramnad, released for the PS2 in 2002, and PSP in 2010. Viorate Platane is the protagonist of its sequel, Atelier Viorate: The Alchemist of Gramnad 2, which appeared on PS2 in 2003, and PSP in 2011.
Both titles release only in Japan. Judie and Vio made their first appearance overseas in the crossover title Nelke & the Legendary Alchemists, released for PS4, Switch, and PC worldwide in 2019.
You can check out the new Atelier Resleriana character trailers for Judie and Viorate here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DI3cgpun5M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EHQSRs0Bkc
Previous Atelier characters will appear in the world of Atelier Resleriana as visitors from other worlds, and Koei Tecmo and Gust already confirmed that these characters will have new original stories.
As is common lately, Square Enix shared more Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis screenshots, this time pulling from The First Soldier and Crisis Core FFVII storylines. While the ones involving Zack may look familiar, the Glenn, Matt, and Lucia ones are entirely new and show off part of the new story.
First, here are the Final Fantasy VII The First Soldier screenshots from FFVII Ever Crisis. In the first one, we see Glenn, Matt, and Lucia after they faced a monster, with Glenn saying it probably summoned more enemies to attack them. In the second one, Matt is cautioning Glenn and telling him to be careful. The third suggests Glenn is a more impulsive person, as Lucia tells him, “Never thought I’d hear you talk about logic.” In the last one, we see the trio making up camp for the night.
[gallery columns="2" size="full" ids="982300,982301,982302,982303" link="file"]
As for the new Crisis Core storyline screenshots, all of them are pulled from the earliest moments of the original game. We see Zack in the training mission simulation, which ended with him facing a virtual Sephiroth and asserting that he wants to be a hero. Then we see him in Wutai watching Sephiroth face an enemy.
[gallery columns="2" size="full" ids="982307,982306,982305,982304" link="file"]
Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis Oshi no Ko crossover content will soon appear, and you can now see how the latter will actually look like in the online game. After previously announcing the collaboration in late July 2023, Sega revealed more details at the early September 2023 NGS Headline stream. The new content will be available via the Oshi no Ko Style scratch ticket in PSO2: New Genesis.
Once the scratch ticket has gone live, players will be able to spend the premium ARKS Cash currency to obtain reward items at random. The Oshi no Ko Style lineup will primarily feature face parts that let players accurately turn their avatars into Ai Hoshino, Aqua, Ruby, and Kana Arima. The scratch ticket will also contain stamps based on the anime stills and emotes that let players perform Ai's signature poses.
All players can also obtain free posters and life-size panels of Oshi no Ko characters via limited-time daily login bonuses, regardless of whether they have pulled the scratch ticket or not. They will be able to place these items in their own Creative Space.
[gallery columns="2" link="file" size="full" ids="982280,982255"]
Following Payday 3's closed beta in August, developer Starbreeze has announced a three-day "technical open beta" for its co-op heist shooter - running from this Friday, 8th September to Monday's 11th September - ahead of this month's full launch.
The goal, once again, is to stress test Payday 3's servers ready for its 21st September arrival on Xbox, PlayStation, and PC, only this time Starbreeze is throwing open the doors to anyone that fancies getting stuck in - as long as they're on Xbox Series X/S or Steam.
As for what'll be available this time around, it's very much the same story as before; the Payday series' clown-masked original quartet - Dallas, Hoxton, Chains, and Wolf - will all be playable, as will be the No Rest for the Wicked bank heist, which can be tackled either stealthily or guns a-blazing, depending on your own particular whims.
Have you ever wondered why, when you're having a lovely stroll around the world of Baldur's Gate 3, there are so many bodies without heads lying around? No it's not because the inhabitants of the world have faulty necks - it's because developer Larian is doing something sneaky.
You see, offering people the ability to speak with any corpse via the spell Speak with Dead created a lot of work. It meant writers not only had to write lines for all the living people, but for the dead ones too. And okay, there's a limiting factor in how Speak with Dead only allows you to ask five questions, but that's still an array of questions to write answers for. And in a war-torn world filled with dead people... That's a lot of answers to write.
What to do? Simple, albeit gruesome: cut their heads off. "The trick that we use is [you can speak to] 'any dead that still has their head'," Vincke told Wizards of the Coast interviewer Todd Kenreck, in a really lovely interview actually. "So you will see a lot of decapitated people in the game - that's literally how we solved that."
There are now more Pokémon to collect in Pokémon Go than in any of the franchise's main series games.
Today's new Pokémon Go in-game event adds a menagerie of creatures from the franchise's fictional Paldea region, featured in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, bringing the total number of species available in Pokémon Go up to a whopping 814.
That's more than the record number of Pokémon available to use in any main series game, with the most being 809 in Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon.
When it comes to books, I'm always searching for something I cannot quite put into words. I know this isn't useful. Let's have a go at getting to this. I'm after something that is absolutely a book and also more than a book, something that tells a story but also opens that story out in surprising ways, taking different forms, trying different things.
I have caught glimpses of this book-non-book over the years. Maddening glimpses. There's something of it in The Spy's Guidebook, which is an overview of codes and kids' espionage stuff and also, in a way, the design document for a million summer holidays. There's something of it in Choose Your Own Adventures, not the choices so much, but the text working with those evocative pen-and-ink drawings, all turtlenecks and loon pants, suggesting some huge multi-book 1970s world-building project. Something of it too in all the cook books I've bought over the years despite not being a brilliant cook. They offer recipes, but also a way, as Fergus Henderson once put it, of being in the world. That's close.
Maybe you understand this desire, poorly articulated, for a book that resists the confines of its own covers, that seems eager to shrug off various forms at will and blend readability and writeability (a word, I have just discovered, that Google Docs is eager to transform into "readability", which feels like some kind of philosophical prank). If so, I reckon you will love The Making of Karateka, which has just come out. I should add: there are plenty of other reasons to love this brilliant piece of software, but the book-non-book was my way in, and I reckon there are worse ways to get started here.
Payday 3 will hold an open beta on Steam and Xbox from September 8 to 11, Deep Silver and Starbreeze have announced.
Starbreeze said the open beta is designed to stress test servers for the co-op heist shooter ahead of the launch on September 21.
The open beta requires no key access and includes the same content as the recent technical closed beta test. Starbreeze mentioned the open beta build is based on a build from April 2023 and is not a final representation of Payday 3, but it will let the studio identify potential issues with the servers before launch.
Here’s what the open beta offers, from Starbreeze:
Payday 3 launches on PC via PC Game Pass, on Steam and Epic Games Store, as well as Xbox Series X and S Game Pass, PlayStation 5 and GeForce Now on September 21.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
A Stray animated movie is in development, Annapurna has announced.
BlueTwelve Studio’s well-received 2022 adventure game gets the animated treatment from Annapurna’s recently launched animation division, led by former Disney Animation executives Robert Baird and Andrew Millstein.
Stray is a third-person cat adventure game set amid the detailed neon-lit alleys of a decaying cybercity and the murky environments of its seedy underbelly. IGN’s Stray review returned an 8/10: “Stray is a delightful adventure in a dark but endearingly hopeful cyberpunk world, and that’s thanks in no small part to the fact that you are playing as an adorable cat the whole time.”
Annapurna Animation’s debut project, Nimona, premiered on June 14 at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival and released globally on Netflix June 30.
It;s also developing director Chris Wedge’s next project, Foo. Annapurna said plans to adapt more titles from its video game library, which includes the likes of Donut County, Kentucky Route Zero, Outer Wilds, Sayonara Wild Hearts, Wattam, What Remains of Edith Finch, Telling Lies, and Neon White.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
EA has today formally revealed EA Sports WRC, a new series officially licensed by the FIA World Rally Championship.
EA Sports WRC is developed by veteran UK racing studio Codemasters, the team behind the Colin McRae and Dirt Rally series, and arrives on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and PC on November 3, 2023 (or October 31, 2023 for players who pre-order).
“EA Sports WRC is the purest form of motorsport where every stage is a fight against the clock, the terrain, and yourself,” said Codemasters senior creative director Ross Gowing. “This is the rally game we’ve always wanted to make, combining our studio’s deep knowledge and expertise with the power of the official WRC license representing the pinnacle of rally motorsport. The game’s new engine has enabled us to push rally to the edge of what’s deemed possible, and the additional features, including Builder and Moments, give players even more ways to interact with the sport they love.”
This is rally.#EASPORTSWRC is coming on November 3 🎮
Pre-order to play 3 days early 📆 https://t.co/dRhPshgw6b pic.twitter.com/Qyru4s19b2
Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon now has an unofficial easy mode on PC, courtesy of a modder who made mech design and gameplay more forgiving and rewards more generous.
As reported by Eurogamer, the aptly named EZ-Core mod posted to the NexusMods website changes key aspects of Armored Core 6’s mech design process, which ordinarily places significant restrictions on what parts you can use based on their weight and energy requirements.
The EZ-Core mod lessens this burden by reducing these energy and weight loads by half, thus making it easier for struggling players to build a relatively overpowered AC. It also increases the amount of starting ammunition for each weapon by 300 percent.
The effective range of weapons has also been increased by 300 percent, which means the rounds fired from your weapons and those of your enemies are far less likely to ricochet harmlessly away. The mod also increases the amount of credits earned for successfully completing both standard missions and arena battles by 200 percent, and adds new camera options, along with the ability to make manoeuvring around with boosters more energy efficient.
Space Marine 2 does an impressive job representing the ‘stompiness’ of the Astartes in video game form. It turns out the developers used Warhammer 40,000’s greatest fan-film as a reference point.
The fan-film in question is Syama Pedersen’s Astartes, an impressive animation widely considered the best representation yet of Warhammer 40,000’s iconic Space Marines.
Astartes does a wonderful job of getting the weight and the surprising agility of a Space Marine across without them devolving into farcical Buzz Lightyear territory. The atmosphere is perfect, the action intense, and the Space Marines themselves devastating.
Syama Pedersen did such a wonderful job with Astartes that Warhammer 40,000 owner Games Workshop hired him to create a sequel exclusively for its subscription offering, Warhammer+.
In an interview with IGN at gamescom 2023, Saber Interactive creative director Oliver Hollis-Leick namechecked Astartes as his favourite reference point for the look of the game's Space Marines.
“He got the sound of them walking down those corridors… ker-klonk, ker-klonk-ker-klonk… but when they move it’s straight away like they’re predatory animals," Hollis-Leick said.
Saber Interactive also met with Jes Goodwin, the renowned artist who designed the original Space Marines, to get an understanding of the science fiction underpinning an Astartes’ armour.
Cypher 007 is a top-down James Bond game coming to Apple Arcade on September 29, publisher Tilting Point has announced.
The game lets players revisit some of Bond's most iconic moments and locations as he attempts to take down the evil criminal mastermind Blofeld, head of Spectre, who is looking to transform Bond into the ultimate double agent.
"Players will be immersed in this beloved universe of espionage as they gather intel, uncover secrets, and use spycraft to overcome immersive levels filled with obstacles, opponents, and objectives that increase in difficulty as they progress," reads the official synopsis.
"Players will complete missions to bring down Blofeld and Spectre once and for all, and compete against other 007 agents around the world via leaderboards to prove they’re the best spy of all time."
A trailer for the game (above) alongside various screenshots (below) were also released and shed more light on the game, which will be available at no extra cost to Apple Arcade subscribers.
Cozy simulation game Japanese Rural Life Adventure, tower defence game Junkworld, and popular virtual pet game My Talking Angela 2+ are also launching on Apple Arcade September 29.
Nintendo announced in a September 5 blog post that it will release both a Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Nintendo Switch and two Nintendo Switch Lite Animal Crossing: New Horizons bundles on October 6. The Mario Kart bundle “offers players everything they need to start their Super Mario adventures,” Nintendo writes, while the Ani…
Last year, the internet and gamers went wild over Stray, a platformer about a lone cat wandering around a futuristic city. Now, Annapurna’s animation studio is actively developing an animated film based on 2022’s most famous cat game.
The name Nextorage might not mean much to you, but this storage company was founded by Sony Japan employees in 2019 and acquired by NVMe SSD controller manufacturer Phison in 2022 - making them well-placed to deliver some high-quality SSDs. Today, their flagship NEM-PA2TB 2TB SSD is down to $109.99 at Newegg, where you can even pick up a $10 gift card with the purchase - neat.
For context, that ties the best price we've seen for a 2TB NVMe SSD, although this option comes with a heatsink and is therefore a better choice for many PC and all PS5 owners.
Want to build a small form factor PC based around Intel's 12th-gen, 13th-gen or even their mooted 14th-gen processors? You should know that one of the best Mini ITX motherboards available for Intel CPUs has dropped to $309.99 at Amazon, a high but fair(er) price for an extremely powerful SFF motherboard packed with features. That represents a $90 discount and the best price ever recorded for this model, so it's well worth reading more...
The latest banner coming to Fire Emblem Heroes is called Winds Offered, and it will contain new versions of Claude, Dagr, Catria and a duo unit of Kagero and Orochi. The banner is set to begin on September 7, 2023. It will run roughly a month before ending on October 7, 2023.
The characters featured in this banner are:
This version of Claude is an Attack and Speed-focused character with the Lethality skill and a weapon that gets bonuses based on his own buffs and his enemy's debuffs. Dagr also has several Attack and Speed-related skills, including a bonus for starting her turn near multiple allies. Like Claude, Catria also benefits from using buffs and debuffs, with the added ability to turn an alliy's penalties into bonuses. Finally, Kagero and Orochi are a hit-and-run style unit with Canto and Lethality, with bonuses versus Colorless foes and the Disarm Traps 4 ability.
You can watch the full trailer below:
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRWlgPxknbA[/embed]
In August 2023, we saw Fire Emblem Heroes feature banners with tea-party themed characters and the winners of the Choose your Legends 2023 poll.
Sega revealed at the early September 2023 NGS Headline stream that it will hold a Spriggan crossover in PSO2: New Genesis in October 2023. The franchise that originated from a 1989 manga will fill the crossover slot for the latest Phantasy Star Online game that Sega had previously marked as a sci-fi anime title.
Even though Spriggan had an earlier anime movie adaptation released in 1998, Sega's direct translation of the Japanese announcement revealed that the newer anime version that aired on Japan's television channels in July 2023 will serve as the basis for this collaboration. The anime's Japanese official site confirmed that this is the same version that Netflix launched in June 2022.
Sega teased that it will add costume parts that let players turn their avatars into the protagonist Yu Ominae and fellow Spriggan agent Jean Jacquemonde. In addition, it will also bring in artifacts from the title as Build Parts that players can place in their Creative Space.
HoYoVerse detailed the Honkai Impact 3rd Promare crossover. While Lio Fotia and Galo Thymos aren't playable, there are references to them. The Herrscher of Flamescion and Chrono Navi battlesuits both get costumes inspired by the characters and movie. There's also a Stigma with Galo and Lio. All of them are shown in the new trailer. Ahead of its debut in 6.9, there's also a discussion event to earn Crystals between September 5-17, 2023.
The Herrscher of Flamescion Born in Flames costume is based on Lio's look in the movie. It changes Kiana's outfit, as well as the way her attacks look. Meanwhile, the Ai Hyperion Λ Chrono Navi skin is based on Galo and Burning Rescue. It's called Burning Rescue Soul. Likewise, it changes the appearance of her outfit and attacks.
Here’s the Honkai Impact 3rd Promare trailer. It mainly focuses on the Herrscher of Flamescion Born in Flames costume and Chrono Navi Burning Rescue Soul costume. However, after the 1:20 mark the Galo and Lio-themed Stigma Promare Flame (B) appears.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlqQb2pNLSw&ab_channel=HonkaiImpact3rd
The significant price jump goes into effect Wednesday
It’s already been a stellar year in speculative fiction
September 2023’s freebies offer mayhem, MMORPG action, and Swedish survival
Can you buy a house? Be an alien? What can you really do in Starfield?
Deck of Many Things co-lead designer discusses putting a little bit of herself into the game
Crossing the stars for lovers
Shiny Wooper turns the Water Fish Pokémon pink
One of the biggest draws of Starfield, both ahead of its release and now it’s out in the wild for everyone to enjoy, was the sheer freedom players are granted. Apparently, that freedom even extends to the toilet roll.
Whether it’s heading to a planet that’s generated just for you or smuggling Contraband where it shouldn’t be, the galaxy is tailored to every individual and their preferences, playstyle and penchant for exploration.
Titled Loki For All Time, this is set to be one of Marvel Snap‘s most exciting seasons yet. We’re getting a new season pass card in the form of Loki himself, who’s already shaping up to be a pretty damn fun card to play around with. Not only that, we’re also getting new variants for Enchantress and Thor, both of which are looking pretty good. And of course, players will have the chance to get a new card back via the Infinite ladder rewards.
With the new season, we’re also getting three new cards, as listed below:
There has recently been a flurry of speculation around when we might finally see the release of GTA VI. It’s no secret that Rockstar Games have been taking their time with the next instalment of the massive games series, especially with their focus on GTA Online. But it now seems to be getting more difficult to discern what is true information with regards to the upcoming game.
What was thought to be a leak of a recent conference call involving the CEO of Take-Two Interactive, Strauss Zelnick, was making the rounds on X (Twitter). Coming from the user GTA6posts, it seemed that new information about when GTA VI would see the light of day had arisen.
