Destructoid

In the absence of a modern-day sequel to Bushido Blade, fans of Square's intense, lethal, blink-and-you're-done PS1 fighting series have been on the lookout for games that give them that same rush. I can't say Hellish Quart will reach those exact heights, but it's intriguing, and it's out today on PC.

Hellish Quart is a 17th-century fencing game with rapiers, sabers, and other fast-moving instruments of death. It's just you, another fighter, and your ability to out-think and out-strike your opponent.

The game "uses active ragdolls and all damage your blade can do is calculated with real-time physics. Four gamepad buttons represent four attack angles. Different button combinations give special attacks and combos. If you are not attacking, your character will automatically try to hold guard against your opponent's attacks. The blades really block each other and that's what's keeping you alive. To win, you must use proper timing, measure, technique, speed, and wits." Way to make it sound so simple!

Today's Early Access version currently lacks a proper story mode or online multiplayer (the creator, Kubold, suggests using Remote Play Together as a workaround), but there's a demo for Hellish Quart on Steam and GOG if you're up for the challenge. The initial user impressions paint a decent picture.

The finished game will also have a Sparring mode, more AI options, and further fighting styles.

The original Doom games are entirely deserving of decade-spanning fandom, and this DIY tribute from YouTube creator Games Made of Cardboard is one of the most creative and high-effort videos I've seen.

It's what you'd expect from a cardboard-ification of Doom II – until it isn't. It really goes places.

The project's creator, Bill Thorpe, didn't just painstakingly recreate the levels, demons, and HUD of Doom II using cardboard (and lots of fake blood), he also wrote a full-on script to capture the essence of this beloved game. It was a nine-month labor of love that he was "happy and relieved" to finally finish.

The fact that he got John Romero in for a quick cameo is the cherry on top for this wild endeavor.

[Via The Verge]

Amazon has a shaky track record for its home-grown games initiative, but maybe there's hope yet for New World.  Underline maybe. Not that surprisingly, the MMO's spring 2021 launch won't pan out – it's been delayed to August 31 to bolster endgame activities – and we'll see what's what in the next beta.

Folks who pre-order New World will be able to join the closed beta on July 20, the team announced.

On top of what players have already seen (including our own Chris), this beta will include an endgame zone with an "exiled empress" (Ebonscale Reach), five-player instanced PvE dungeons (Expeditions), and a 20v20 Outpust Rush mode in which teams clash over strongholds in a "primordial river basin."

What's new since the last check-in? The developers say they've "polished the combat system, added quest variety, expanded weapon and armor variety, added fishing, expanded the map to include a new region Reekwater, overhauled our crafting system, and continued to add mid-game and end-game content." The alpha build will keep pushing ahead with EU servers going online on March 30.

I find it difficult to travel back and play early 8-bit consoles like the Atari 2600 or Colecovision. It’s not that their primitive graphics and sound fail to capture my attention, but rather, they’re so dedicated to replicating the arcade experience. That's not entirely a bad thing, but it was a transient way to play games, as you would slot your quarter, played until you lost, and moved on hoping your high score would mean something. To make matters worse, early home consoles generally replicated the experience very poorly. I’m sure it was nice to be able to play Burgertime at home in 1983, but the Atari 2600 version looks and plays like a trash barge run aground.

The idea of having the arcade experience at home continued to be a carrot dangling in the face of developers throughout the ‘90s. Indeed, the Genesis liked touting its Altered Beast, while the Super Nintendo beckoned you with its port of Final Fight. But throughout this, the true console experience began to formulate, and while games like Super Mario Bros. started us towards that goal, it would be The Legend of Zelda, with its ability to save your progress, that would truly mark the beginning of the transition.

Sort of. Like most things in video gaming’s history, it’s a bit more complicated than simply saying, “Praise this game!”

Kao the Kangaroo fans - and I know you're out there - will be pleased to hear that the high-jumping hero's original trilogy of adventures is now available to purchase from GOG.com, packaged together as the surprisingly titled Kao the Kangaroo Trilogy.

The compendium includes the original 2000 adventure, the 2005 sequel Kao the Kangaroo: Round 2, and finally 2005's Kao the Kangaroo: Mystery of the Volcano. This release represents the first time the latter two titles have been made available in digital format. It should also be clarified that these are direct ports of the original PC releases of each title, not the PS2 or Sega Dreamcast editions.

Kao the Kangaroo Trilogy is available to purchase now on GOG.com, at the low, low, price of just $7.99. Additionally, customers picking up the trilogy before February 22 will receive an extra 10% discount. A brand new Kao the Kangaroo title is currently in development at Tate Multimedia.

You might not hear much about Predator: Hunting Grounds these days, but it's still hanging in there, at least from an ongoing support standpoint. The latest update for the multiplayer PC and PS4 game is out today with a Viking-inspired Valkyrie Predator (who wields a Norse Hammer) and custom matches.

If you're looking to group up with friends and try out a range of gameplay modifiers, you'll want to pop into a private custom match – especially as it becomes harder to match with random players. Apart from being able to tweak mode and character settings, you can alter the AI and HUD, and there are goofy options like Big Head Mode, Stabbers Only, and The Floor is Lava (for the Predator, thankfully).

Custom matches will only award 25 percent of the normal XP to keep farming in check, however, one of them – Hardcore Hunt – is an exception. It sounds appropriately grueling: you'll have less HP, a "minimal" HUD, and "limited" abilities "such as no target isolation." This mode is a developer favorite.

At a certain point in an online-centric game's life, you have to hand over the keys to the community, so to speak, to help keep it feeling lively. Custom private matches are a nice step in that direction.

Patch Notes 2.14 [IllFonic]

Troubled developer Starbreeze has released its financial report for 2020. While the new numbers show a 20% decline in year-on-year sales, overall the studio's losses have shrunk from previous years, suggesting that the Swedish developer might be on track to turn its fortunes around.

Over the course of 2020, Starbreeze managed to raise new capital and relieve itself of multiple debts, while its flagship title Payday 2 has seen huge growth on PC. The bank-raiding co-op shooter saw sales rise over 60% compared to 2019, which has led to a Steam playerbase of 7.1 million - the largest single game community on the entire platform.

Starbreeze acting CEO Tobias Sjögren is confident that this surge in Payday 2 interest will help the studio complete the long-in-development Payday 3, and hopes to sign a publisher soon.

"Starbreeze is a much stronger company today than it was one year ago," said Sjögren in the report. "We are hugely confident, thirsting for revenge and thrilled to be able to focus to the max on developing our IP with Payday front and center. With expanded development capacity and continued good demand for everything Payday, we are in prime position for future growth."

Nintendo's mobile battler Fire Emblem Heroes reaches back into the past today, pulling forth a handful of brave new warriors taken from the adventure series' 1996 Super Famicom release Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War.

Joining Fire Emblem Heroes' massive roster of beautiful people are the Captain of the Pegasus Knights, Annand; the young mage-in-training, Azelle; rebellious nobleman Lex; and finally Erinys, the youngest of the Four Heavenly Knights of Silesse, as well as the younger sister of Annand. A quartet of characters for the more hardcore of Fire Emblem devotees, to be sure.

At long last, we have a date (March 18) for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X versions of Marvel's Avengers – but is it too little too late? Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics are surely hoping for a big boost after a rocky and slower-than-expected rollout of updates and new content post-launch.

The PS5 and Xbox Series X versions of Avengers will have "upgraded visuals and framerate," "significantly faster load times," "improved destruction," and, in the case of the PS5's DualSense controller, "haptic feedback for each hero." What does the Hulk feel like? Inquiring minds want to know.

Of course, there's still the elephant in the room: the need for fresh story content to bring players back into the fold. Avengers is also rolling out the next story and character update, Clint Barton's Future Imperfect, on March 18. Is it strange to have two archers back-to-back in an Avengers game? Incredibly.

Crystal Dynamics covered Clint's kit – including a Quick Reflex dodge/parry, a single-target Dead Eye attack, a katana, and loads of arrow types like Boomerang and Tripwire arrows – in a deep dive video.

Square Enix just can't help themselves when it comes to adapting Final Fantasy games into anime. It's kind of amazing actually, that there's extra stuff to uncover (particularly with the FFXV shorts, which were arguably more coherent than several in-game arcs), but this time, it's a little more fleeting.

Shared by way of the Final Fantasy XIV Korea YouTube channel, the video begins with a player character waking up in Limsa Lominsa, a radiant seaside town (also my hometown) and one of the main hubs of A Realm Reborn. It's all amazingly authentic looking, down to the Aetheryte, the character styles, and the random Bard performance in the streets. As a reminder, FFXIV has had anime ads before, dating back to 2019.

As for this recent one below, there's a ton of great shots here, most of which can be replicated in the actual game, from crafting to randomly training out in the wild with your chocobo companion. I can't wait to see how great this is all going to look (and feel, framerate-wise) on PS5.

[Thanks Rich!]

Iron Gate Studio's new title Valheim is most assuredly "having a moment." The Nordic crafting adventure - which launched as a Steam Early Access title on February 2 - has rocketed out of the starting gate, having sold over two million copies in its first two weeks of release and reaching a peak concurrent player rate of over 390,000 wannabe vikings.

The Swedish developer is as surprised as anyone by Valheim's immediate success. "We didn't really anticipate that," candidly stated CEO Richard Svensson to RPS. "Our goal was pretty much to cover our development cost so we could continue to exist as a studio and continue working on Valheim. I guess our future is safe for a while now."

Magic: The Gathering Arena has had some...problem cards for a while now in certain formats.

I mean, Uro and Omnath have both been banned in standard for some time! Now they will be completely removed from historic play (Omnath was previously suspended); and basically Magic: Arena as a whole. These cards totally weren't a mistake.

In other interesting recent card news, Tibalt's Trickery, one of the most non-interactive cards in a while, is banned from modern. Some say it's only a matter of time for it to be banned in standard: particularly when it makes for some really bummer Arena matches.

As a recap, Tibalt's Trickery, as used in certain gimmick decks, counters your own 0-cost turn spell very early on in a match, to "cheat" out crazy permanents like Ugin turn two. Most of the time if the cheat/mill tactic doesn't work, the Trickery user concedes. If it works, the opponent concedes. Regardless of winrate effectiveness, it's not something Wizards probably wants to see plaguing Arena matches. I probably play around two or three of them per day.

A bunch of other changes have rolled out for pioneer, legacy, and vintage formats, so make sure you're all caught up if you play those competitively. As of right now, nothing has caught the ban hammer yet in Kaldheim standard.

Last week, we reported how Ubisoft is re-evaluating its upcoming sci-fi shooter Rainbow Six Quarantine - suggesting the title might be in line for a rename due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Yesterday, a new image (discovered by MP1ST) appeared online for something called "Rainbow Six Parasite," with many fans, understandably, assuming that this is the new moniker for the bio-hazardous release.

Reggie Fils-Aimé is legendary. I mean, he helped make the Bigfoot Pizza a reality!

But really folks...the bigfoot pizza ruled. But really really, Reggie Fils-Aimé is easily more well-known for his stint at Nintendo of America, where he brought a very welcome larger-than-life persona out in the world to give Nintendo the gravitas it needed. According to Reggie, the Switch kind of sealed the deal on his retirement.

As he puts it speaking to Gamertag Radio: "candidly, knowing that it was going to be successful is what helped make my retirement decision easy because I knew the company was going to be in great shape for at least a few years." Reggie talks about the sheer power of Nintendo when it comes to portable systems, saying that the "hair on the back of [his] neck stood up" when he first saw the Nintendo DS.

Reggie talks about how the Switch went differently than the Wii U, noting: "And I say this because the system was solving for a key player complaint, and that complaint is, I’m having fun, I’m playing my game, and now I need to stop because I got to go to work, or I gotta go to school, and I can’t take my game with me. I can’t continue playing that game. So Switch, with the opportunity to play on that big screen TV, then take it out of the dock and go play in handheld mode, it met a fundamental consumer desire. That was the triggering moment. There were so many other smart things the company did – the support for Unity and Unreal, which allowed all of the great independent content to come. A number of other key decisions."

So maybe you've been watching Arc System Works' recent run of Guilty Gear Strive Starter Guides, you've picked out which character you fancy, and now you're set to start collecting skulls, right? Well, before you start picking out background music for your highlight reel, you better be sure you have a grasp of the Guilty Gear mechanics. It ain't Street Fighter, and Jp. HK into Cr. HK isn't gonna wash in GG's world.

And I should know, I'm terrible at this game.

Help is at hand for all of us. Today's Starter Guide focuses specifically on the bread-and-butter of Guilty Gear Strive: its core mechanics. The video spotlights several offensive and defensive maneuvers that are a vital part of every Guilty Gear battle. These include Dust, Instant Block, Faultless Defense, and a complex but important GG trademark: the Roman Cancel system. It looks like a lot to take in, particularly for players who may be used to more simplistic defense strategies in titles such as Street Fighter V and Mortal Kombat 11.

Resident Evil Revelations is kind of a quiet little cottage franchise for Capcom.

Sure Resident Evil 7 was the thing that put it all back on the map, but Revelations was hailed at the time for its return to survival horror, and Rev2 had a brilliant co-op component alongside of the much-improved raid mode, the spiritual successor to mercenaries minigame. I really want to see it return. And according to a very reliable Capcom insider, it just might.

Speaking on Twitter, Dusk Golem (who was spot on about multiple RE-related news tidbits) states that "Revelations 3 is coming out within a year of Village's release date, (corrected to) late 2021 or early 2022." They clarify the news by saying that it likely won't be called Revelations 3, but possibly Resident Evil Outrage, as Capcom seemingly is moving away from the Revelations moniker.

It'll be part of the 25th anniversary celebration, "along with Village," and Dusk Golem claims that Revelations 3 (or whatever title it ends up with) is "almost definitely going to be a Switch timed exclusive." All of this will allegedly happen "later this year," as Capcom announces another Resident Evil marketing blitz post-Village launch.

Given how spot on they've been in the past, this is much safer of a bet than a lot of other similar rumors. It's also much lower stakes, as it's essentially a spinoff rather than a mainline entry. Whatever the case, if they bring back co-op and build off of Rev2, I'll be happy.

Dusk Golem [Twitter]

Sony has been pumping out "wireless headsets" for the PlayStation family for a while, so it was only a matter of time for Microsoft to follow suit.

Just this morning they announced the "Xbox Wireless Headset," a new product that will work with the Xbox console family. Microsoft boasts they have "embraced spatial sound processing by including custom audio hardware to offload audio processing from the CPU, dramatically improving the accessibility, quality, and performance of these experiences."

Thankfully, we have cold hard details, and not just some nebulous marketing speak. It's out on March 16 for $99.99, and you can pre-order today. It'll work across Xbox One, Series X/S, and Windows PC machines, as well as mobile devices. You can find more info here.

I have to say, the design looks really sleek, and I dig the almost all-black look with the green highlights. Any more green and it would be mistaken as a Turtle Bay knockoff. But this smacks of "official," and the price isn't insane compared to similar-performing headsets for consoles.

I'm anxious to try it out.

Sometimes it feels like Evil Genius was a pretty recent game. Yeah, recent. 2004. I played it while I was waiting for Half-Life 2 to be released. I was in high school. High school. That was practically yesterday, right?

The original studio that developed it, Elixir Studios, went bust shortly after its release, with rights getting scooped up by Rebellion. This led to a couple of Facebook games because that was the trend at the time and everyone wanted that Farmville money. But Rebellion has always said they were looking into bringing a full-featured sequel into the world. It took a while, but we’re finally here with Evil Genius 2: World Domination, and it’s time to bring the world to its knees once more.

Did you see the other Game Pass offerings this February? They're good! Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age is a pretty nice get, especially given that it's hitting console and PC (rather than those sneaky "mobile only" listings).

But February is getting even more stuff, as evidenced by an email this morning to Destructoid. Code Vein is arriving on PC on February 18, which adds some eastern hack and slash sensibilities into the Game Pass mix. Killer Queen Black is also one of the most perfect Game Pass games, as it thrives on people playing it online: and the more folks that have access to it, the better the community is.

Superhot: Mind Control Delete is a good get too, as I know a bunch of people are on the fence for this follow-up. Add in Elite Dangerous, Dirt 5, Pillars of Eternity 2 Ultimate Edition, and Wreckfest, and you got a stew goin'.

It's been a long while... a really long while. But Nintendo has officially announced that it will be hosting its newest, full-length, Nintendo Direct presentation tomorrow, February 17. The action kicks off at 14:00 PT / 17:00 ET / 22:00 BST, live on the publisher's official YouTube, Twitter, and Twitch.

The presentation will feature "roughly 50 minutes" of news and information pertaining to "available games" as well as early 2021's Nintendo Switch lineup. Specifically referenced is madcap brawler Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Y'all excited? I bet y'all excited...

Talk about a match made in Hell. The lovely Miriam, hero of 505 Games' Castlevania-like platformer Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is getting set to make a guest appearance in Team 17's critically acclaimed nightmare, Blasphemous. What a crossover!

The free update, titled "Strife and Ruin" will arrive on PS4, PC, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch on February 18, and will see the last Shardbinder visit in the land of Cvstodia, seeking help from protagonist The Penitent One. Miriam is trapped in the dismal and terrifying realm, and The Penitent One must help her by gathering lost shards from around the kingdom in order to rebuild the portal back to Hellhold, so our gal can finally return to her own world of abject misery.

Keiichiro Toyama has released a new video that which sees the Silent Hill creator reflecting on his storied career, while quietly teasing the mystery title currently in development at his new company, Bokeh Game Studio. In the video, Toyama candidly discusses the thematic concepts that drive the creator's body of work, while also showcasing some delightfully grim concept art for the as-yet-unannounced game.

"The view I have of horror is the everyday life being shaken," says Toyama in the video. "Rather than showing scary things, it should question our position, make us challenge the fact that we're living peacefully. I like bringing [these] thoughts in my concepts... I would like that to be the theme of my next game."

The collectible company Youtooz occasionally leans into video game characters over real-life personalities, and later this month, it's coming out with a trio of figures based on Banjo-Kazooie.

There's Banjo and Kazooie looking all cute, Tooty playing piccolo, and Bottles minus his iconic eyewear. The figures will cost $30 each when orders open on February 26, 2021, and they're shipping in June.

They're on the smaller side at heights of 4.5", 3.7", and 3.5", respectively.

I can't think about Tooty without picturing the "game-over" scene (that played when you exited the game) where she's turned into a monstrous green-skinned version of herself by Gruntilda. As for dear old Bottles, I can't see him without dwelling on his untimely demise in Banjo-Tooie. He had a family!

For me, the duo is the best figure of the group, though I'd like to see Mumbo or Kunglo in this style.

[Via Comic Book]

As much as I love the game, I don't need a collectible physical edition of Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2 from Limited Run Games – but boy am I tempted to show up when pre-orders open next week.

There's a $30 standard copy for Nintendo Switch and PS4 with typical cover art and a manual tucked inside, which is fine. The $60 Classic Edition, on the other hand, has new box art from artist Tom duBois, the guy responsible for bringing Konami games to life before you even put the cartridge in your console.

His take on Curse of the Moon 2 feels at home with the retro era. I'm enamored. Little Hachi!

Apart from the game, this pricier collector's set also comes with an 18x24" poster (featuring duBois' art in all its glory), the soundtrack on CD, and a cozy NES-style sleeve. It's available for Switch and PS4.

Pre-orders for Limited Run's standard and Classic Edition copies of Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2 will run from Friday, February 26 at 10:00 am Eastern until March 28 at 11:59 pm.

It was nice to see Ghost Town Games whip up a two-game definitive edition collection of the Overcooked series for PS5 and Xbox Series X in time for launch-window buyers, but what about everyone else? What about a Switch version? As it turns out, we're getting more ports fairly soon.

Overcooked: All You Can Eat is coming to Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on March 23, 2021. All platforms will have a digital release for $40, and Switch and PS4 have physical copies, too.

The bundle package has every morsel of content from both games, most notably all of the worthwhile DLC levels, and the first game has been remastered in the vein of Overcooked 2 – a noticeable step up. If you're an online-centric player, you'll have the opportunity to take Overcooked 1 online for the first time.

Aside from being more cohesive, the main benefit is just the ease of having everything in one place.

There are also new trophies/achievements to earn (All You Can Eat is considered its own separate game), and you can pop into the accessibility options to find a toggle to turn off the recipe timers. Post-launch, Ghost Town will be releasing an update to enable cross-platform online multiplayer support.

As I said in my review of the PS5 version, if you're big into Overcooked, then All You Can Eat could be a no-brainer – depending on the price. I feel like $40 for the last-gen editions is spot on. That said, if you already own all or even most of the original content, it's a harder sell. There's no loyalty discount.

For 35 years, The Legend of Zelda has been inspiring imaginations and captivating audiences with its sprawling adventures across a land of swords, shields, and skulltulas. For the next seven days, we're looking back at its three-and-a-half decades of entertainment, and I wanted to start off this retrospective week talking about one of the best aspects of every Zelda game: the boss battles.

From its humble beginnings on the Famicom Disk System to its most recent outing on Switch, The Legend of Zelda has managed to introduce outstanding dungeon boss battles that transcend their technological restraints and graft themselves onto the minds and hearts of its fans. Aquamentus may be just a simple 8-bit unicorn dragon, but as a child, my mind painted a far more elaborate picture of how daunting this creature actually was.

As technology improved, I didn't have to fill in the gaps as much as I used to, but Nintendo has used each and every jump in processing power to create more iconic boss battles that pushed the limits of what we expect from a Zelda game. I'll never forget how my jaw dropped when I first fought Koloktos in Skyward Sword.

We all have our favorites, and with so many amazing options worth mentioning, I asked the Destructoid staff and community to help me out with this post and answer the question: What is the best boss battle in The Legend of Zelda?

Ten years ago, former Destructoid Editor-in-Chief and 100% certified piece of Angus beef Chad Concelmo declared it Zelda Week to recognize the impending launch of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. Today, as we near the 35th anniversary of the franchise, I, Destructoid's Features Editor and 100% certified bucket o' lard, am doing the same. For the next seven days, it's Zelda Week at Destructoid, bitches.

It's crazy to think a series that started well before I could even walk is still one of the most important franchises in all of entertainment. The Legend of Zelda has a passionate fanbase, and while the popularity of some series may wane over the years, Zelda's is only getting stronger. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is the first game in the series to sell more than 20 million copies on a single platform, and its sequel might just have the biggest launch the Switch will ever see.

We have no clue how or even if Nintendo will choose to mark the anniversary, but here at Destructoid, you can expect a week of original Zelda content from our contributors leading up to the franchise's official anniversary on February 21.

And because I don't want to limit the celebration to just the staff, if you'd like to get in on the action, we're still taking submissions for our Zelda 35 Bloggers Wanted post. Try to get it finished by February 19 to be included in the front-page recap.

If you've got 45 minutes or so to spare in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, there's a feather-filled event running today called Festivale. The latest seasonal update is a lot like the prior seasonal updates. You'll swing by, catch floating items in the sky, trade them with a guest character for items, and peace out.

Not to downplay the cheerful vibes of Pavé the peacock (or my villagers, who showed up in full force to dance in the town square), but it is what it is: these events have mostly been one-note so far.

What's at stake for Festivale? Ten colorful items, the coolest of which is an extravagant float.

Once you chat with Pavé near town hall, you'll collect colored feathers. The ring leader will accept three feathers of the same color (red, blue, green, and purple) and give an item for each bundle you bring.

The item list: a drum, lamp, flag, stall, balloon lamp, confetti machine, stage, garland, and parasol.

You'll also be able to turn in rare rainbow feathers, which show up pretty infrequently on the island or can be crafted using one feather of each color. Once you've gotten the nine Festivale items, you can nab the sought-after final reward, the Festivale Float – but you'll need to bring three rainbow feathers.

Google is assuring owners that, despite its somewhat rocky start, Stadia still has the company's full support, with "more than 100 games" currently slated for arrival on the cloud gaming service over the course of 2021.

"We’re thrilled to continue bringing great games from some of the best developers for our players to experience within the Stadia store," reads an official Stadia forum post. "Over the next few weeks and months, players can expect to see everything from action-filled RPGs to competitive co-op titles and nimble platformers [...] These games represent just a sampling of the more than 100 games that will be added to the Stadia store for our players in 2021 to share, experience, and play with friends."

Among the titles lined up for Stadia's immediate future are Electronic Arts' FIFA 21 (March 17), Team Yakuza's detective brawler Judgment (April 23), and Cradle Games sci-fi RPG Hellpoint. Also listed are a slew of cute, cartoony platform titles, including WayForward's Shantae releases Half-Genie Hero and Risky's Revenge, PixelHive's fun-looking Kaze and the Wild Masks, and LiquidBit's competitive multiplayer title Killer Queen Black.

The post follows up from Stadia's recent announcement that it was already shutting down its internal game development studios, a little over a year into the service's launch. Going forward, Stadia intends to concentrate on delivering third-party software new and old to its community of users, publishing more games with each passing month.

I guess there's life in the old... erm... new dog yet.

Google plans to release 100 games for Stadia this year [Engadget]

When WiiWare (and subsequently, portions of DSiWare) were shut down, a good chunk of gaming history was lost.

It was such a shame, losing a ton of greats like Contra ReBirth, in an instant. This is why game preservation is so important. Alas, one such lost game, Space Invaders Get Even, was touched upon in a recent Wccftech interview with Yuichi Toyama, director at Taito.

Not just an obscure release, Space Invaders Get Even came out in 2008 and is one of the aforementioned "lost" WiiWare titles. Taito never actually revived it on any platforms, and although it wasn't a massive hit, it had a decent-sized audience, and was a fun little take on the Space Invaders formula. In short, you could be the aliens, as you rampaged across cities in a very...well...Rampage or King of Monsters-like fashion.

Speaking to Toyama, the game isn't currently in any talks to get a re-release, but according to Toyama: "This is another game we've considered and if we see enough demand, we'd love to be able to release it. The biggest issue with Get Even is the control method: the game was designed to be played on the Wii Remote, so we need to work out a solution to deliver an enjoyable play experience. What do you think is the best way to go about this? We may be able to replicate the controls by making good use of the Nintendo Switch's touch screen functionality."

Ever cheeky, Toyama also low key pitches a battle royale take on the formula, throwing this thought out into the universe: "Or maybe a game in which players become Invaders and invade the earth could be designed differently. For example, how about a game where 55 players come together in formation and invade the earth?" He even immediately notes "there are no plans to release this at the moment!"

While it initially seemed that tactical military shooter Tom Clancy's The Division 2 was getting marching off into its apolitical sunset, Ubisoft has now decided to give the mercenary matchmaker one last hurrah, with a batch of new content, arriving later in 2021.

The fourth season of DLC for The Division 2 - literally titled "End of Watch" - revolved around the chasedown of treacherous agent Faye Lau and her squad of lieutenants. Faye Lau's faction, Black Tusk, held key areas in Washington D.C. including The Pentagon itself. With the removal of Black Tusk, things were looking a little safer in the capital, which worked as an epilogue - or at least a ceasefire - to The Division 2 story arc.

Regardless, Ubisoft took to The Division 2's official Reddit to announce new content will arrive later in 2021. Massive Entertainment, who developed The Division and The Division 2 have already begun pre-production on Ubisoft's recently revealed Star Wars title, as well as a game based on James Cameron's sci-fi franchise Avatar. The publisher has previously noted that Massive - as one of Ubisoft's largest studios - has the workforce to develop multiple projects simultaneously.

At this point, seasonal Blizzard events are like clockwork.

Unfortunately, they're not as unique as they once were: that goes double for say, Overwatch, which can feel on maintenance mode at times. Similarly, World of Warcraft just brought back their Valentine's Day event, which has a few timed goodies in tow.

It kicked off already, but will be running through February 22 in Orgrimarr for the horde and Stormwind for the alliance. "Love tokens" are once again the currency, which can grant you goodies on top of the heart-shaped box loot: which grants the true keeper rewards.

The real stuff is from finishing the dungeon finder event (Apothecary Hummel), which can randomly grant you a Big Love Rocket mount, Or you can opt for the safer Swift Lovebird by handing over love tokens. Pets, heirlooms, toys, and other bonuses are also fair game until February 22.

All you need to do to reap most of the rewards is have a character that's level 10 or above.

Love is in the Air Has Begun [Battle.net]

Following last week's investigations, U.S. law firm Chimicles Schwartz Kriner & Donaldson-Smith (CSK&D) has proceeded with a class action lawsuit against Sony, following customer complaints that DualSense controllers packaged with their PlayStation 5 consoles were severely affected by the "drift" manufacturing fault.

According to a copy of the lawsuit - acquired by Destructoid from CSK&D - the firm filed against Sony Corporation of America and Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC in a New York court on February 12. The suit claims that the DualSense controller is "defective" and claims Sony offers "slim" options for those owners affected by the fault. "Drifting" refers to a physical defect whereby analogue stick register movement while remaining in a stationary position.

"Sony is - and at all relevant times has been - aware of the Drift Defect through online consumer complaints, complaints made by consumers directly to it, and through its own pre-release testing," accuses CSK&D's suit, later concluding "As a result of Sony's unfair, deceptive, and/or fraudulent business practices, owners of DualSense controllers have suffered an ascertainable loss, injury in fact, and otherwise have been harmed by Sony's conduct."

As previously noted, this isn't CSK&D's first time dealing in drift-related lawsuits, as it was one of a number of firms that previously filed suit against Nintendo in 2019, after a torrent of instances where the Nintendo Switch Joy-Con controller were being similarly affected. The suit in question was compelled to arbitration after a judge refused to dismiss the case.

New Halo news is coming back in a big way and it's pretty exciting.

Now that a lot of the darkness has parted from the Halo Infinite delay, 343 Industries is giving us huge updates for the Halo series as a whole. Not all of them are good! But it's nice to see multiple arms of the franchise talked about in any capacity.

To that end, Halo 3 is getting its first update in a long while. Yes, that Halo 3. By way of the Master Chief Collection, Halo 3 will get the "Waterfall" map, which was taken from the failed/defunct Halo Online project. The name is gleaned from the file in the blog post itself.

Created on the back of Halo 3, Online was going to be a thing in Russia and beyond in 2015, until it wasn't in 2016. Thankfully, part of Saber Interactive's work is going to be preserved with this new map. It's going to be tested in beta form first, then unleashed to add Master Chief Collection owners. Another win for game preservation!

Lovely Letters [Halo Waypoint]

Publisher Deep Silver has announced that the PC edition of its Scary-As-All-Fuck first-person adventure Metro Exodus will receive a major upgrade this spring, with the launch of Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition - arriving as a standalone release or as a free upgrade for those who already own the apocalyptic epic.

It sounds like you're really gonna need a hefty engine to get this train runnin', as the Enhanced Edition will require a ray tracing-capable graphics card even at its minimum specification - significantly boosting the game's visuals and special effects and making Metro Exodus' already smothering atmosphere starker and more frightening than ever before.

"It is not a simple 'patch' to the base game," noted developer 4A Games in a blog post. "Instead it will be offered as an extra entitlement to all existing Metro Exodus PC players. The PC Enhanced Edition will offer additional ray tracing features, including Advanced Ray Traced Reflections and support for DLSS 2.0 on NVIDIA hardware, which offers sharper image details and increased framerates and display resolutions."

Below is a sample screenshot taken from the Metro Exodus PC Enhanced Edition.

[Update: A community member has pointed out a pretty active petition to bring Halo Wars 2 to Steam, as well as provide support.]

The history of Halo Wars has always been relatively rocky. In its prime, Halo could basically do no wrong. It kept pumping out sequel after sequel, and when it had a strategy-based spinoff in 2009, people went "sure, we could use more Halo." Fast-forward to 2017 when franchise steward 343 Industries teamed up with Creative Assembly for a sequel, and things weren't looking so rosy.

It's been a while since we've heard anything about Halo Wars 2 actually, so 343 Industries recently checked in to tell us that there would be no news going forward. In a blog post noting "honesty and transparency," 343 has confirmed that with the Master Chief Collection and Halo Infinite in full swing, Halo Wars is on the backburner. Yes, the series as a whole, not just the sequel.

343 explains: "we want to give it to you straight: 343 Industries has no current plans for further Halo Wars 2 work including content updates, balance patches, bringing the title to other platforms, or a new game in the series. We will, however, continue to monitor the game and ensure everything is working as expected."

It's a lotta news in just two sentences. So not only are they not working on further Halo Wars 2 content, but they also don't intend to proliferate it elsewhere ("new platforms" likely means Xbox Series X/S with enhancements), nor do they intend on continuing the series.

You can almost set your watch by it. Nintendo launches Switch game, Switch game hits the top of the UK Charts. With each major release, Nintendo continues to find favor with the British gaming public, and last week's launch of Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury was no exception, debuting in the number one spot of the UK Charts.

As reported by GamesIndustry.biz, Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury, which received rave reviews from critics, is already the third biggest Nintendo Switch Mario release ever, sitting just behind 2017's Super Mario Odyssey and 2020's Super Mario 3D All-Stars. In regards to its launch figures, the new double pack is an absolute smash, with physical sales up 190% on the launch numbers for the 2013 Wii-U original - though of course the user base for Nintendo Switch far outweighs that of its big-screen brethren. Nintendo's new title is already a winner.

It's file size time! Arguably one of the most fun moments of a Switch pre-release.

Well, Crash 4 is also coming to PS5 and Xbox Series X/S (as well as PC "eventually"), but generally, when a Switch file size is released, folks gather around the fire and figure out just how much stuff they have to potentially delete. In Crash 4's case, maybe a few minor things.

As revealed on the official landing page for Crash 4, the Switch port will clock in at 9.4GB, which is pretty hefty. By comparison, another recent level-based platformer, Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury, is 2.9GB. Of course, Nintendo is the master of their own domain (and compression), so we expect basically all first-party games to be on the small end of the spectrum.

More details have come to light thanks to an interview with Push Square, who confirmed that the game will run at 720p undocked, 1080p docked, and with a framerate of 30 FPS. It's a stark contrast to the current-gen console editions, which can work at 4K at 60 FPS.

Crash 4 [Nintendo]

Resident Evil Village has already done a fine job in stoking the hype fires for its upcoming release. With a morally grey Chris Redfield, a terrifying new locale, a fan-pleasing demo, and the big ol' Ascot hat of Lady Dimitrescu, fans are already frothing for the latest installment of Capcom's legendary horror franchise.

But to really send the fanbase into maximum overdrive you just need three words: Resident Evil Four.

Capcom producer Peter Fabiano certainly had his marketing head on in a recent interview with Official PlayStation Magazine. Not only did Fabiano state that Resident Evil Village was shaping up to be "the best Survival Horror game to date," but the developer also noted that the new sequel drew much influence and inspiration from 2005's Resident Evil 4, a title still considered by many fans to be the finest Resident Evil release of all time.

"You'll notice we took a lot of inspiration from Resident Evil 4," said Fabiano to OPM. "The team has put a ton of effort into creating a truly authentic feel. There are plenty of surprises to keep you on your toes; players will find a balance of combat, exploration, and puzzle solving."

Nintendo has really dropped off with their amiibo production in the last several years. Just give this huge list a quick glance. I'll wait!

You can see the huge drop in 2018 following a big 2017 showing, and even bigger reductions going forward. In 2020, just four amiibo were released. For the recent 3D World + Bowser's Fury port, Cat Mario and Cat Peach came out, but the other "big" amiibo launch was a re-release of Bowser and Bowser Jr.

If times were different and amiibo still had the same momentum as the days of old, we likely would have gotten these great custom creations from darkdreamr. Based around the Giga Cat power-up from Bowser's Fury and ol' Fury Bowser himself, these look line unique figures; not to mention they'd probably have cooler effects than the existing cat ones do.

Creator darkdreamr explains their crafting process, noting: "Bowser was airbrushed with a pearlescent black, the fire effects were hand painted, then sprayed with a gloss, mud paint was added to the base after Mario’s hair was sculpted then painted gold." It reminds me of some people who painted their Mario figurine gold when the Gold Mario amiibo was tough to find!

Giga cat Mario and Fury bowser custom amiibo [darkdreamr]