You know what’s pretty great? Good video games. You know what makes good video games even better? Not having to pay a penny for them. Well, I come bearing great news for lovers of good video games you can play without paying a penny: Planet S is totally free and by all accounts pretty darn good.
Ubisoft is "decommissioning" online services for a further 10 of its "older" titles, with the likes of Assassin's Creed 2, Splinter Cell: Conviction, and Trials Evolution all affected.
"Decommissioning the online services for older games is something we do not take lightly," the publisher wrote in a post on its support site. "However, it is also a necessity as the technology behind these services becomes outdated."
In total, 10 games will see their online services yanked as of 25th January next year. On PC, Assassin's Creed Revelations, Ghost Recon Future Solider, Heroes of Might and Magic 4, NCSI, RUSE, and Trials Evolution will all be affected. Online services will also be decommissioned for Assassin's Creed 2 and Spinter Cell: Conviction on Xbox 360, Assassin's Creed Liberation HD (Xbox 360 and PS3), plus Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (Mac).
Ubisoft has announced plans to shut down online services for nearly a dozen video games, including Assassin’s Creed 2 and Splinter Cell: Conviction. The games will lose online functionally on January 25, 2024.
The official Demon Slayer social media account dropped some news regarding the progression of season 4 of the anime series. The newest promotional reel showcasing what’s next in store for Tanjiro and company will appear on December 10, 2023.
Fans of Demon Slayer will get a sneak peek at what will be covered in the fourth season of the anime in the upcoming teaser trailer. Now that the third season reached its conclusion, it’s time for fans to delve into the fourth season of this popular anime. In fact, the series itself is so popular that the movie Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Mugen Train surpassed Hayao Miyazaki’s film Spirited Away as the fastest grossing film in Japan.
View the announcement post below:
Masahiro Sakurai shared behind the scenes details about Super Smash Bros Ultimate in his latest YouTube video. He revealed how soon the game was developed after the previous installment, how new fighters were decided, and how the pandemic impacted development of DLC.
In the latest episode of Game Concepts on his Creating Games YouTube channel, Sakurai looked at the development of Super Smash Bros Ultimate. He described it as his final mission from Satoru Iwata, long before the Switch had been revealed. Development started early, with Sakurai submitting his proposal on the same day as Bayonetta's reveal for Super Smash Bros for 3DS and Wii U (SSB4).
Atlus offered a peek at the Persona 3 Reload art book concept art images of hero Makoto Yuki and ally Yukari Takeba. Both appear on a page from the collection.
The Persona 3 Reload concept art for Makoto, which is the canon name for the hero in the game, is almost entirely in black and white. The only hint of color is the red S.E.E.S. band on his left arm. He’s looking up at the viewer and wearing his school uniform, complete with his headphones.
Meanwhile, the Yukari concept art shows her as though she’s about to head into battle and features a bit more color to it. She’s wearing a black jacket over her regular school uniform. While the S.E.E.S. armband isn’t present, the left shoulder does feature that iconography. She’s also holding a bow and about to pull out an arrow to use with it.
Here’s the page from the Persona 3 Reload artbook included in the Digital Deluxe Edition. Should someone get that version of the game, it will appear on page 58 of the book.
Angeal of Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII will appear in Dissidia Final Fantasy: Opera Omnia from October 31, 2023. The #33 DFFOO stream also gave more information on Angeal’s kit.
Angeal will be a Yellow Crystal Unit who’ll use a Greatsword. You’ll have the chance to recruit him in Act 4, Chapter 8, Part 1, which will also go live in the game on October 31, 2023. Angeal can act as a support with his passive ability, Dreams and Honor. Whenever he uses abilities other than Bursts, he can increase how much Dreams and Honor stacks based on his Max HP. While Angeal is on the field and active, his allies can deal more damage with HP Attacks based on how much of Angeal’s Max HP he’s stored in Dreams and Honor.
The strongest Hisuian Typhlosion will appear as a Tera Raid in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet in November 2023. There will be two time periods during which we can obtain it, with each period lasting for three days. [Thanks, Game Watch!]
The first time you’ll be able to start encountering the Hisuian Typhlosion will be on November 3, 2023. It’ll stop appearing on November 6, 2023. The second window will run from November 10-13, 2023. This Hisuian Typhlosion will appear in 7-star Black Crystal Tera Raids, and will have a Fire Type Tera.
Previously, the original Typhlosion appeared as a Tera Raid in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. This one was the type that debuted in Johto (Gold, Silver) and thus was a Fire Type with a Ghost Tera. Due to the different scaling in Arceus, it can be hard to accurately compare the two versions. However, it seems that Hisuian Typhlosion has a higher Special Attack than a normal Typhlosion, at the cost of its Speed and HP. Due to its dual typing, Hisuian Typhlosion has more Weaknesses, but it’s also immune to Normal and Fighting movements, unlike the original.
On October 30, 2023, 31-year-old Japanese voice actor Junya Ikeda was reportedly arrested for special fraud. BaRU, the agency which he was signed to, confirmed the termination of his contract through an official statement on its website.
Junya Ikeda provided the voice of Mitsuru Tenma in the franchise Ensemble Stars. Happy Elements, the company that provides service for the mobile game, also released an announcement on its website regarding taking time to prepare future plans upon Ikeda’s arrest.
Ikeda had an anime role lined up for the Fall 2023 season. He was selected to provide the voice of Oz Gorgeous in The Kingdoms of Ruin. Now, it has been decided that he will be replaced and a different voice actor will be cast for the role. This was announced through an official statement posted on the The Kingdoms of Ruin social media account.
See the statement from The Kingdoms of Ruin social media account below:
[embed]https://twitter.com/hametsu_anime/status/1718931751144198182[/embed]
You may have also heard Ikeda’s voice from his roles as Jo Kido from Digimon Adventure, as well as Millions Knives from Trigun Stampede.
Junya Ikeda has been arrested for special fraud as of October 30, 2023, and his contract with BaRU has been terminated.
Square Enix shared a brand new video clip from FFVII Rebirth, showing off new footage of Red XIII gameplay while in combat. The latest footage shows as he claws at enemies on the battlefield and uses the "Stardust Ray" area-of-effect spell that rains down on enemies.
Red XIII is voiced by voice acting industry veteran Kappei Yamaguchi, best known for his roles as Inuyasha in Inuyasha, L in Death Note, Shinichi Kudo in Detective Conan, and Usopp in One Piece.
Red XIII is described by Square Enix as a red-haired beat that was captured by the Shinra Electric Power Company and used as an experiment. He is rescued by Cloud and his companions in Final Fantasy VII Remake, and joins Cloud on their journey. Red XIII's origins stem from a species that resides in Cosmo Canyon. He is a skilled fighter and also gives wise advice to everybody in a calm voice.
The new footage of Red XIII in FFVII Rebirth can be viewed below:
https://twitter.com/FFVIIR_CLOUD/status/1718553769569620468
Official Hige Dandism, who provided the first anime opening for Spy x Family, will return to sing the theme song in Spy x Family: Code White. You can hear a snippet of the song in a new trailer for the movie.
You can watch the new trailer for Spy x Family: Code White here:
The trailer shows a few scenes from the Forger family’s first family trip to Frigis. It appears that there are some important microfilms that could serve as a trigger between Westalis and Ostania hidden in a chocolate bonbon. Unfortunately, Anya accidentally eats it, which puts a target on her back. As such, Yor and Loid have to work together to protect and retrieve her. However, they must do so in a way that’ll protect their identities as an assassin and a spy, respectively, from others and each other.
Meta Quest Japan has been working with Doga Kobo on a collaboration between Meta Quest 3 and Oshi no Ko. Those who participate in the Meta Quest 3 pop-up event are able to receive exclusive collaboration items.
The collaboration’s title is “Meta Meta Oshite Ne!” which can loosely translate to “Support Meta Meta!” The demo event for Meta Quest 3 started on October 11, 2023, and those interested who have until November 19, 2023 to check it out. It’s available at the Shibuya Modi or at the Shinjuku Marui Annex. As for the Oshi no Ko goods you’ll be able to get, there are some event-exclusive stickers featuring either Kana or Ruby. You can also try your luck in a lottery for a special clear folder.
Following an OS update on Xbox consoles released on October 16, 2023, unofficial accessories now trigger an error code when connected to any Xbox One or Xbox Series X or S console. Error 0x82d60002 or 0x82d60003 will appear on Xbox consoles when any accessory not manufactured by Microsoft or another licensed hardware partner is connected.
A new trailer for the Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Walpurgis no Kaiten movie featuring Homura is now available on Aniplex’s YouTube channel. At just under two minutes long, there are only a few new scenes in the trailer that Aniplex hadn’t shown before.
You can watch the new Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Walpurgis no Kaiten trailer here:
The entire first third of the trailer focuses on Homura and her descent into villainy. There’s also a scene of Madoka facing off against what looks like a witch. It’s unclear if the witch has anything to do with Homura. Kyubey is also fairly prominent in this trailer, foreshadowing his return to the plot proper. The voices in the beginning of after Homura picks up the phone seem to plead for her to release a girl. It's unclear if this means Madoka (considering the end of Rebellion) or Homura herself (in the sense of she's trapped in her obsession with Madoka).
RoboCop: Rogue City would have been the absolute biz back in 2005. This might sound like a criticism, and to a certain extent it is. But I mean it equally as a compliment to developer Teyon's work. The studio's latest licensed FPS following Terminator: Resistance is a fine example of a AA game, with an ambition that exceeds its budget, and a sincerity that helps power through no small amount of wonk. It's a decent shooter, a surprisingly involved policing game, and an authentic RoboCop experience. But as with all Teyon's games it lacks refinement, while it adheres too closely to the themes and plot points of the films to truly flourish as its own tale.
Taking place between RoboCops 2 and 3, Rogue City kicks off with a glorious statement of intent. A gang of crazed punks named the Torch Heads takes over Detroit's TV station, to send a very public message to a new and mysterious crime lord in town, creatively referred to as "The New Guy in Town". The message is straightforward enough: "We're here, we want to work with you, and we mean business". To prove it, they take a bunch of hostages.
Developer Remedy has shared more news about several of its upcoming releases.
In a new post, the developer stated that work on its sequel to 2019's Control - which is aptly named Control 2 - continues in "the proof-of-concept" stage.
"The plans for this sequel are ambitious, and we have seen good progress both in the designs and in the game build," Remedy wrote, adding that it will "continue at this stage for the next few quarters".
Undertale creator Toby Fox has announced his next game, Deltarune, will be available to purchase once the fourth chapter is complete.
In a new blog post, Fox shared the release strategy for the in-development game which has already seen its first two chapters released for free.
What's more, chapter three is now "content complete", so hopefully we're nearing a release date.
Kratos and Nathan Drake will soon be able to flex their enormous strength on an all new PC store, as God of War and the Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves collection are both coming to GOG.
"These upcoming arrivals mark a pivotal moment on GOG, as we know how many souls wanted to visit those incredible realms on our platform," the team over at GOG proclaimed while sharing this news.
We still don't have an exact release date for the former PlayStation exclusives' arrival on the store, but the team has assured us it will be "soon". You can, however, wishlist both God of War and Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves now. When they do arrive, they will be joining other Sony titles Days Gone and Horizon Zero Dawn on this additional PC storefront.
From the creative minds behind Pocket Mirror comes a 1990s anime inspired horror narrative adventure in the form of Little Goody Two Shoes. Filled to the brim with mystery, curses, and creatures, this game is the perfect accompaniment to this year’s Halloween night. To learn more about how the developers crafted this magical treat from the ground up, Siliconera spoke with Astral Shift artist Kira, lead writer Ebee, and lead programmer João Caetano about the title.
Lauren Palmer: In Little Goody Two Shoes, you can immediately see the influence of 90s anime and early RPG Maker horror games. Which specific pieces of media inspired you to create this game?
Kira: Little Goody Two Shoes pays a visual homage to iconic shoujo anime from the 90’s, such as Sailor Moon, Magic Knights Rayearth and Slayers, among several others. We wanted to capture the essence of these strong and determined female protagonists in our own story with our main character Elise – this can be seen not only in the way she’s written but also in her character design!
Developer Toby Fox followed up their 2015 critically acclaimed and fan-favorite 2D RPG Undertale with Deltarune Chapter 1 in 2018. This chapter was the first in what we'd later learn is a five-chapter top-down RPG with puzzles, bullet hell sequences, and Final Fantasy-inspired combat, and Chapter 1 was released for free. Fox dropped Chapter 2 in 2021 in a surprise announcement, and now, players patiently await the release of Chapter 3. Today, more than two years later, Fox has revealed an updated plan for their Deltarune release strategy.
With Chapter 3 nearing completion, Fox plans to finish Chapter 4 and release Deltarune as a purchaseable product. And following that, development on Chapter 5 will continue and hit the game when it's ready. To help with this, Fox has hired a producer "whose entire job it will be to speed up the overall game development for future chapters," according to a new statement released.
You can read Fox's full statement below:
I've only just read Sin's thoughts on Akuma Kira's Lunacid and lo and behold, the PS1-styled, first-person dungeon crawler has now released out of Steam Early Access, to considerable rejoicing. Lunacid is a homage to classic FromSoftware games - no, not that juvenile upstart Dark Souls, but King's Field and Shadow's Tower, which date back to the late 1990s.
I played one of the King's Field games as a sprog and found it to be an extended cave system full of lava, demons and torment. Lunacid sort of applies the perspective and medieval fantasy combat of that series to a story reminiscent of Demon's Souls - the From-alike that spurred the Japanese studio to international fame - with a world that has been flooded with toxic mist by a "sleeping old one below". Your job, as some unfortunate outcast chucked into a pit, is to journey downward and confront this mysterious creature, using any and all combinations of rapiers, clubs and fireballs. Off you go then.
Fresh from the release of Alan Wake 2 - and apparently with a view to driving me nuts, because I haven't had a chance to play Alan Wake 2 yet - Remedy have shared some titbits about future projects. These include the modestly-known about Control 2, a sequel to the paranormal Brutalist telekinet 'em up that is seeing "good progress", and the forthcoming remakes of Max Payne 1 and 2, on which Remedy are collaborating with GTA and Max Payne 3 developer Rockstar.
Further afield, there's the mysterious Condor project, a co-op multiplayer Control spin-off (pictured above) that builds on Remedy's experience crafting the single-player component for wayward service-based shooter CrossfireX. And at the very edge of sight, there's the faint outline of something called Codename Vanguard, about which naff-all is known. Could it be that "crazy, huge budget, dark gothic fantasy" Remedy's creative director Sam Lake would like one day to make?
Nintendo unveiled the sign for its upcoming Nintendo Museum. The sign looks like the present day Nintendo logo, with the word “Museum” underneath it. [Thanks, Famitsu!]
The company uploaded the image of the Nintendo Museum on its Instagram account. When it finishes in late March 2024, you’ll be able to go in and check out all of the products that Nintendo released in the past. This will likely include consoles (much like the display in the Nintendo shop in New York) and accessories like R.O.B. There is also a ? Block on top of the roof. Nintendo first unveiled this aspect of the building in its September 14, 2023 Nintendo Direct stream.
Can you believe it, but yesterday marked 25 years since Grim Fandango first made its way into the world. Nope, nor can I!
To mark the ever marching hands of time, and I suppose the occasion, the team at Double Fine has shared some special fan creations including cosplays and artwork.
"Our team got together with our community and made this amazing tribute filled with stories, art, and tattoos!" Grim Fandango's director Tim Schafer shared on X (formerly Twitter). "Thank you to everyone who contributed and collected these beautiful memories! I'll keep them next to where my heart used to be."
UPDATE 5pm UK: Embark Studios has provided further details on its use of AI voiceover in The Finals, noting "making games without actors isn't an end goal for Embark" and that the use of AI text-to-speech is based on real voices.
A statement shared with Eurogamer reads: "We use a combination of recorded voice audio and audio generated via TTS tools in our games, depending on the context. Sometimes, recording real scenes where actors get together - allowing character chemistry and conflict to shape the outcome - is something that adds depth to our game worlds that technology can't emulate. Other times, especially when it relates to contextual in-game action call-outs, TTS allows us to have tailored VO where we otherwise wouldn't e.g. due to speed of implementation.
"In the instances we use TTS in The Finals, it's always based on real voices. In the Open Beta, it is based on a mix of professional voice actors and temp voices from Embark employees. Making games without actors isn’t an end goal for Embark and TTS technology has introduced new ways for us to work together."
Cliff Bleszinski, the creator behind the Gears of War series, has suggested the games get a God of War-style reboot. Oh, and that Xbox just needs to give him a call.
Speaking with Comic Book about his upcoming comic Scrapper, conversation turned to the shooter series. Bleszinski said he could consult on any ideas Microsoft may have for the series, and suggested it could get a "little bit of a reboot, like God of War" had in 2018.
"I've always said, Phil Spencer has my number," he told the publication. "I'm happy to consult. Gears will always be near and dear to my heart."
Staffordshire University has announced an investment of £2.9m into its esports facilities to support its dedicated esports degree.
The investment was announced as the university celebrates being the first institution in the UK to offer an esports degree programme. The programme has recently been redesigned "in collaboration with students and industry", the university stated.
The money will go towards creating a bespoke esports arena on the university's Stoke-on-Trent campus, a studio with "dedicated broadcast galleries", and equipment from Panasonic and EVS. Esports students will also have access to "esports aethetics and theming". The facilities are expected to be finished by spring 2024.
Nintendo has added three more games to its retro library for Switch Online subscribers, each with its own spooky theme for Halloween.
NES games Devil World and The Mysterious Murusame Castle are now available to play, while Castlevania Legends has been added to the selection of Game Boy titles.
Devil World is a maze game similar to Pac-Man but with a religious twist. You play as a green dragon who decides to take on the devil and must collect crucifixes and Bibles to gain the ability to breathe fire, eventually chasing the devil through a number of different mazes. The re-release of Devil World on the Wii's Virtual Console was alright by our book.
This story is part of our new Future of Gaming series, a three-site look at gaming’s most pioneering technologies, players, and makers.
Atari has announced an agreement to acquire Digital Eclipse. The studio is known for its expertise in digitally restoring and preserving retro titles such as Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration.
According to a press release, Atari aims to expand its internal development and further support its retro-focused growth strategy (citing its acquisition of Night Dive Studios earlier this year as an example) by leveraging Digital Eclipse's proprietary tech and experience. Atari states that Digital Eclipse benefits by gaining access to “world-class IP” to grow its business and development capabilities further.
Atari is spending $6.5 million on the acquisition ($4 million in cash, $2.5 million in newly issued Atari shares), with a remaining earn-out of up to $13.5 million in cash over the next 10 years based on the studio's future performance. The purchase is set to be completed in the next few days.
Platform:
PC
Release:
Ahead of the premiere (release? Launch?) of the experimental Silent Hill Ascension tonight, we had a chance to speak with the developer Genvid about the game (TV show? Crowd-directed narrative?) is, what it will mean to the Silent Hill universe, and how much work is going into animating the versions of the narrative that may never be seen.
Every weekend, indie devs show off current work on Twitter's #screenshotsaturday tag. And every Monday, I bring you a selection of these snaps and clips. Well, usually on Monday; yesterday I was instead up in the Highlands admiring autumn. But today! Today my eye has been caught by an even greater quantity of grappling hooks and slick movement tricks than usual, along with some chill scenes, typing violence, and giving ghosts the finger.
Square Enix announced a new collection of Final Fantasy XIV reed diffusers based on cities that appear in FFXIV. They alongside the return of older fragrances.
Each room fragrance costs 4,180 yen (or about $28) each, and they will release in Japan on December 16, 2023. They are now available for pre-order from the Japanese Square Enix online e-store.
The boxes and bottles are decorated with motifs from the cities they are inspired after, taken from their flags. Here is the list of FFXIV cities available, and the fragrances corresponding to each one of the Final Fantasy XIV reed diffusers:
Atlus West released a new Persona 3 Reload trailer introducing Mitsuru Kirijo, the refined and erudite heiress of the Kirijo Group. She is a third-year student and student council president at Gekkoukan High School, as well as the leader and organizer of the S.E.E.S. team.
The new trailer for Persona 3 Reload introduced audiences to Mitsuru's new voice actor Allegra Clark, who is best known for her roles in Fire Emblem: Three Houses as Dorothea, Street Fighter 6 as Marisa, Jujutsu Kaisen as Maki, and Dragon Age: Inquisition as Josephine. Many scenes with her new voice actor can be heard in the trailer, highlighting key story events as well as some humorous moments between Mitsuru and the hero in her Social Link.
The trailer also showed off in-game combat with Mitsuru's Persona Penthesilea, in particular when using the ice spell Mabufula. The character introduction trailer also shows Mitsuru in her brand new S.E.E.S. outfit as she completes a special attack against weakened enemies.
The brand new character trailer for Mitsuru can be seen below:
HoYoverse set a new time and date for the rescheduled Genshin Impact Special Program 4.2. It will now air at 5:10am PT/8:10am ET/2:10pm CET on November 3, 2023.
As a reminder, the Genshin Impact stream was supposed to appear on October 27, 2023. The company abruptly delayed it a few hours before the airdate. It didn’t offer any explanation for the postponement at the time. Sony’s official social media account even shared a scheduled post with screenshots and the November 8, 2023 launch date for 4.2.
The presentation will appear on Twitch first, as usual. Then an hour after that, people will be able to catch a rebroadcast of it on YouTube. The official art on the new social media post still shows Lumine, Furina, and Neuvillette, suggesting all three will be the hosts of the showcase.
We do already know some details about what’s to come. Both Furina, the Hydro Archon, and Charlotte will be new playable characters following the update. Both already appeared in the game as NPCs.
HoYoVerse teased the upcoming Version 1.6 characters for Honkai: Star Rail, and we’ll be able to pull for Ruan Mei, Dr Ratio, and Xueyi in the future. Art for all three appeared.
Of the above three, Ruan Mei and Dr Ratio will be the five-stars. Meanwhile, Xueyi will be a four-star. Ruan Mei will be Ice Harmony and Dr. Ratio will be Imaginary Hunt. Xueyi will be Quantum Destruction. Both Ruan Mei and Xue Yi have technically appeared in the game already as NPCs, though players did not get the chance to directly meet with Ruan Mei. So far, there is no official information yet regarding their kits.
A new report from the Carbon Trust, a UK-founded global consultancy which aims to drive positive climate change in businesses, has outlined best practice for the games industry to calculate its carbon emissions.
The report, in support of the Playing for the Planet alliance, was conducted with 10 video game companies over 12 months to explore their approaches to carbon accounting. It found the majority of emissions are either in goods and services (such as data centres) or energy used by video game products.
In addition to the guidelines for the industry, the report also includes steps the public can take to reduce the carbon impact of playing.
Xbox has announced the first set of games which will be added to Game Pass in November, including several day one releases.
Available to play from today are pigeon party game Headbangers: Rhythm Royale and the latest from Life is Strange developer Don't Nod, climbing game Jusant, both which were previously announced, and turn-based RPG Wartales. All three are available on cloud, console, and PC.
Day one additions coming up throughout the month include Thirsty Suitors, Football Manager 2024, and Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name.
“Deep Stone Lullaby is the most gorgeous piece of game music that you’ve never heard,” wrote PC Gamer’s Tim Clark back in 2021. The “melancholy slice of sci-fi magic” was tucked away inside the raid for Destiny 2’s Beyond Light expansion, one of the multiplayer shooter’s end-game activities that the majority of…
