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In an enlightening documentary video from Archipel, Yakuza series creator Toshihiro Nagoshi spoke about how the turn-based Yakuza: Like A Dragon was originally an action game. Now you might be thinking, "Yeah, sure. It started that way and before long they branched out to try something new."

But the way Nagoshi tells it, the shift was even wilder – it happened in the last year of production.

"After working on the six numbered titles, I had somehow reached a limit," he said. "As I was thinking of how to follow the events of Yakuza 6, I wasn't too confident on the margin of progress I could make."

"At first we said half-joking how about we make an RPG," Nagoshi recalled. "We released an April Fools' video. Many people were assuming that we were already making an RPG at that point. Actually, it was really something only made for April Fools' Day. It was still an action game at the time. From there, the video was positively received, we suddenly fully changed directions. We started making it an RPG."

"Hurrying to make things is sort of a characteristic of the Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio," Nagoshi explained.

"Nobody said that it was too late to shift to an RPG, that it was impossible or that it wouldn't please the players," he said. "It was more coming up with ideas to make it happen. In my experience, when you have to stop a brainstorm because too many ideas are flowing, you're on the right direction."

Strap in, you're about to get 500CCs of straight lore injected right into your veins.

Stitching together all the details of the Fallout universe wasn't particularly easy in vanilla Fallout 76. There were no NPCs, thus there was no one to tell you stories. It was a never-ending trail of holotapes and terminal entries, and you were left to mentally filter and retain all the important stuff. It wasn't very good storytelling.

Ahead of the free Steel Dawn update, Bethesda felt it pertinent to explain how and why the Brotherhood of Steel is in Appalachia. This eight-minute walkthrough covers Lt. Taggerdy's gang and their transition from the Army Rangers to the Brotherhood. It goes into their affiliations and struggles in West Virginia, ultimately culminating in Operation Touchdown in the glassed cavern (which is the Belly of the Beast mission where we see their fate firsthand).

It doesn't, however, really get into why this new wave of Brotherhood of Steel is making their way west from California to Appalachia. The video simply concludes by saying "Now, eight years later, the Brotherhood's First Expeditionary Force is on its way from their headquarters in New California to assess the situation, re-enforce, and re-establish contact between the two sides. Unknowingly heading into a very different Appalachia..."

As Disney continues to throw a ton of Star Wars stuff at the wall to see what sticks, some of it is landing. The Mandalorian and the recent season of The Clone Wars are really resonating with people, in part due to the efforts of Dave Filoni: who should be the Kevin Feige executive equivalent for the property.

In the meantime, Disney is content with trying new stories and cashing in on nostalgia. Tales from the Galaxy’s Edge tries a bit of both, but comes up short because of it.

Officially there were 10 PS4 games that wouldn't be able to make the transition to PS5 via the magic of backward compatibility. (Although, Chris and other people found their own examples of additional games that weren't functional.) "Were" is the operative word in that first sentence because the official list has now been pared down to nine.

Chair Entertainment has patched Shadow Complex Remastered so that it's now backward compatible on PS5:

I had one recurring takeaway during this five-minute Cyberpunk 2077 gameplay trailer, even though it's something that has been at the forefront of my mind ever since CD Projekt Red's fantastic showing at E3 2018. Hell, I'm sure you've been thinking it all along too. "Fuck, this game looks so unique and beautiful."

Every three-or-so seconds, the trailer cuts to a new scene in Night City, and it's almost always a visual feast. The art and design just seems so immaculate. It's a city that you're going to want to constantly photograph. Cyberpunk 2077 will have a photo mode, hopefully it's a robust one. Some people are going to forget to play this game in favor of capturing it.

The other thought that crossed my mind is "How are we going to end up in all of these situations?" The trailer shows so many different settings and scenes that it seems impossible to experience them all. It's so diverse that it almost looks like the content is endless even though we know it isn't. Like, how do we get to a talk show where a double-amputee gets bionic arms? I just can't imagine a scenario where there's a pause from all the gang-busting and corpo-infiltration to go watch The Ellen Show 2077.

Rollercoaster riding, skinny dipping, punk rocking, blowing up Terminators in the desert, Keanuing -- it's all a part of the Cyberpunk 2077 experience. At some point, you'll find time to smuggle this brainchip and topple capitalism, or whatever's going on here.

I uninstalled Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp from my phone well before New Horizons hit the Switch, and I really haven't seen any reason to go back to it. It's still the cute game I remember from when it launched, but it's shackled to fortune cookies and a subscription service I just don't want to deal with.

If anything, I was good and ready to forget all about the app until I found out today Nintendo has added AR functionality to it. That...might be enough to change my mind. As you can see in the trailer below, the new AR feature will allow players to bring their favorite campers into our world, and we'll be able to go into Pocket Camp to visit our friends in our cabins.

Nippon Ichi Software has revealed that an expanded edition of its charming but dour adventure Void Terrarium is coming to PS5 in early 2021. Void Terrarium Plus - or to give it it's full name void tRrLM(); ++ver; //Void Terrarium Plus - will feature all of the content of the original PS4 and Nintendo Switch edition, alongside additional new features.

Void Terrarium is set in a grim, post-apocalyptic world, and puts players in the role of a beat-up service droid, tasked with protecting a vulnerable young girl, Toriko, from the highly toxic environment. Players guide the little bot through a series of dungeons, searching out food, medicine, and resources in efforts to keep Toriko healthy while offering her some form of comfort in this dark and miserable world.

Both Final Fantasy XIV and World of Warcraft are both getting big updates by the end of the year, especially the latter: who is hosting a major expansion for the first time in two years. As detailed over in the game's blog, Blizzard has explained how the dungeon system works, which will entail eight new locales: four for leveling and four as max-level activities.

The first one comes at level 51 (The Necrotic Wake), right near the start of the expansion: accompanied by normal, heroic, and mythic difficulty settings. Then there's one at level 53 (Plaguefall), then 55 (Mists of Tirna Scithe), and 57 (Halls of Atonement). All the dungeons are spread across the Bastion, Maldraxxus, Ardenweald, and Revendreth zones.

This sort of info is pretty useful when leveling, as you'll know exactly when you're supposed to head into a dungeon (if you haven't already) and start leveling quicker and acquiring better loot. While you can typically hit max level (now 60 in this upcoming expansion) by heading through the critical path main story quest, sprinkling in dungeons can make everything faster.

Truth be told, the start of an MMO expansion is one of my favorite gaming activities, full stop. The unknown feeling of it all (barring the collective of guides from the alpha and beta periods, which I ignore) is thrilling: diving into a whole new expansion world all alone. I can't wait to see what Shadowlands brings to the table. In all, I just hope it brings back that meta-magic from Legion. Battle for Azeroth was fun, but the general positivity around Legion made it a much more fun expansion to play on a macro MMO level.

Explore the Dungeons of Shadowlands [Battle.net]

Every bit of new Marvel's Avengers content has the potential to bring players back (and keep persistent fans feeling good), especially significant updates with new story missions and playable heroes. With that in mind, Kate Bishop's delay did some real damage – and there are still a few weeks left to go.

The (first) arrow slinger is coming to the game for free on December 8 with the Taking AIM mission.

Nick Fury is missing, Super Adaptoid is on the scene, and time travel is afoot. Cue Kate as Hawkeye. Apart from her character trailer, there's also a new pre-recorded War Table Deep Dive video.

Beyond her bow, Kate has a sword and is "equipped with repurposed AIM tech that uses quantum energy to power her rapid movements around her enemies," according to Crystal Dynamics. "Her intrinsic attacks teleport her around enemies and deal increased sword damage. Her Blink skills lets her double jump, air dash, and traverse ledges via short-range teleportation. Kate can also parry enemies with Quantum Shift, which teleports her away from the attack to return and strike from behind."

The second slice of this story, Future Imperfect, revolves around Clint Barton, and it'll mark his debut as a playable character (to say nothing of big old Maestro). That update will be released in "early 2021."

The time has come! It's another first-party Nintendo game release! Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity is out on November 20, serving as a prequel for the beloved modern classic Breath of the Wild.

Now that it's finally being unleashed upon the world after the time-traveling antics of the demo confused everyone thoroughly, I'm looking forward to seeing what the general public thinks. It's going to be docked for the framerate issues and the narrative is likely going to be polarizing, but I'm jazzed to finally be able to talk about it. But it's not the only big release this week.

Sniper Elite 4 is also coming to Switch, as well as the Serious Sam Collection. And some other stuff too!

Since...2009, when Demon's Souls was originally released, some players have been asking for an "easy mode" for any given Seki-Souls-Borne, and so far, From Software hasn't budged.

It's an interesting topic! I think it's perfectly okay if a designer's vision isn't for everyone, as not every person needs to finish a Souls game. But the concept reared up again with the development process for the Demon's Souls PS5 remake, when porting studio Bluepoint Games toyed with it.

Speaking to The Washington Post, Bluepoint creative director Gavin Moore (who has been rather chatty this past year!) confirmed that they "discussed an easy mode," but "ultimately decided it wasn't [their] place." Moore says that they were "merely custodians" for the game, and if they added that, it would "fundamentally alter its balance."

Instead, they opted for accessibility advancements that wouldn't directly impact the vision of the game, like aesthetic sliders and tips videos that work outside of the confines of gameplay. As Moore observes, Demon's Souls is "actually very fair," but the tips clips should help push some players along.

While alternate, optional modes are great, I'm glad that Bluepoint went with their gut here. If From Software decided to add an easy mode that's one thing; but I bet director Miyazaki and his team would have wanted the PS5 remake to represent the core of the original. To me, it has.

‘Demon’s Souls’ devs considered, and ultimately left out, an easy mode[Washington Post]

Sony International has released new Chinese and Japanese trailers for its upcoming Monster Hunter movie adaptation. The 90-second, fast-paced previews give fans a new look at some of the characters, locations, and beasties that will feature in Paul W.S. Anderson's fantasy epic.

Alongside multiple shots of protagonist Cpt. Artemis (Milla Jovovich) in action, we get our first footage of Tony Jaa's hardened hunter as he stalks an unseen prey and cooks up a meaty feast. Also featured in the trailers is Ron Perlman's seafaring Admiral, another one of the mysterious allies who will help Artemis as she picks her way through the vast and hazardous new dimension. There's even a Palico! At last!

"This video game is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual events or any real persons, living is purely coincidental. No organization or government agency has approved endorsed or authorized the use of their names or logos or product".

For some time now, Ubisoft has opened many of its titles with a disclaimer similar to the one above, often placed front and center each time the game in question loads. While a company wanting to "cover its back" is understandable, it gets harder to swallow said message with each release. Ubisoft is heavily invested in narratives concerning political upheaval, corrupt governments, class rebellion, and the breakdown of society. But the publisher's persistence in distancing itself from the topics it capitalizes on is getting long in the tooth.

Ubisoft's fiction is frequently embedded in recognizable real-world drama. The publisher openly linked Watch Dogs: Legion with Brexit before reiterating that Ubisoft games are "not political". The Division 2 featured war in the streets of Washington. 2018's Far Cry 5 was about doomsday preppers following a false idol, while the upcoming Far Cry 6 concerns a fascist dictatorship on an island off the shores of the United States.

There's nothing wrong with tackling socio-political subjects in any medium - creators can and should when the opportunity arises - but at least own your stake. Telling the audience that your wares "aren't political" doesn't wash when you set your latest adventure in "post-Brexit" Britain, open the story with terrorist attacks, feature dialogue referencing "fake news" and "social media conspiracies", and then add British xenophobia, a work-shy Prime Minister, and a crumbling NHS to the mix.

In today's contest you can win one of Hypertrain Digital's games on Steam!

Hypertrain Digital has been cranking out games for five years now -- can you believe it? They're celebrating their huge milestone by running a sale for all of their games on Steam. But what's better than a cheap game? A free one, of course!

For the next four days, we're giving away 500 copies of their games daily, including Breathedge, Stoneshard, Desolate, The Wild Eight, and Police Stories. I said, there are 500 winners per day! Make sure you tell your friends. If I had any, I sure would!

Cblogs Recap: Week 45

-Shoggoth2588 introduces November's Band of Bloggers is all about Emergent Gameplay Challenges.

-Shoggoth2588 responds to October's Band of Bloggers prompt about Darkness with a blog about the dark tone of Max Payne.

-Black Red Gaming shares his list of most anticipated games in November.

-LaTerry responds to October's Band of Bloggers prompt about Darkness with a blog about the multi-player horror game Phasmophobia.

-Kerrik52 reviews Uncharted: Drake's Fortune as part of his Traveler in Playtime reviews blogs.

-Queen of Philosophy reviews the outgoing generation of video games, which had some great games and some not so great games as well.

-GamingDadDiary thinks that Watch Dogs: Legion may be a bit too much at these times.

-Dinoracha reviews The Flower Collection detective mystery games.

-Black Red Gaming goes back to explore the controversial game, Hatred, and see the impact one mod can make.

It’s no secret that Microsoft was fighting an uphill battle with the Xbox One. The initial announcement of the draconian DRM strategy did not go over well, with Sony and the gaming community at large taking every opportunity to dunk on it. But over time, the console landscape shifted dramatically. Microsoft, along with Phil Spencer, completely changed the conversation.

Xbox Games with Gold provided players with permanent copies of 360 games. Microsoft extended its hand to other publishers, opening the floodgates for cross-platform play — while Sony opposed the program for another year, only relenting for certain big-ticket games. Xbox Game Pass utterly shifted the landscape of "generations," becoming the first major successful "Netflix for games" concept.

That philosophy extends to the Xbox Series X family.

_{[Since this is our first of the two new hardware reviews, here's a quick side note. We've made both articles fairly uniform, so you can compare and contrast them together when the PS5 review hits. You can find our Xbox Series X unboxing article here.]}

Video gaming's worst kept secret is finally out in the open. Electronic Arts has officially announced Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, a full remaster of BioWare's fantastic space opera trilogy that engrossed a globalaudience of players on PS3, PC, and Xbox 360.

Taking the opportunity to celebrate November 7 - known to the Mass Effect faithful as "N7 Day". EA finally announced that the trilogy remaster was in the works, with a tentative release window of Spring 2021 on PS4, PC, and Xbox One. It will be forward compatible with next-gen platforms, and will include "targeted enhancements" on the new hardware.

In addition, BioWare general manager Casey Hudson has announced a brand new Mass Effect title is also in the works. "A veteran team has been hard at work envisioning the next chapter of the Mass Effect universe," said Hudson on the official ME blog. "We are in early stages on the project and can’t say any more just yet, but we’re looking forward to sharing our vision for where we’ll be going next".

"For me personally, Mass Effect represents years of work and countless special memories, so every year I feel incredibly fortunate to celebrate N7 Day with players around the world. Thank you so much for supporting us over the years. I can’t wait to continue our adventure together—revisiting our favorite memories in the Mass Effect universe, and creating brand new ones!"

Fuel up the Mako and fire up the Normandy folks, the adventure returns...

Sony certainly killed it with the PS4, didn't they? I mean, Microsoft handed them the "W" on a silver platter as soon as that draconian DRM presentation hit.

But something remarkable happened: Microsoft fought back. Instead of throwing in the towel, they made strides in the backward compatibility arena that no publisher had done before. All the while, Sony crafted killer exclusive after exclusive, fighting the good fight with the thing that matters most: games. Sony had to work to sell those 112-million-plus units and take a coveted spot in the "top five all-time best-selling console" list.

This generation, after all of the groundwork laid by Microsoft, we're poised for a fairer fight. But Sony is really coming in swinging yet again with the PS5.

_{[As this is our second of the two major console reviews, here's a quick side note. We've made both articles fairly uniform, so you can compare and contrast them together. You can find our PS5 unboxing article here.]}

Maybe it's just me, but it seems that, somehow, the weeks of the horrorscape that is 2020 are getting faster and faster. Events that once seemed set in the future are upon us, impending, or passed entirely. It feels as if the year has flown by and, as we head into November, a new era of video gaming beckons. None of us really know when Real Life will return to normal, (or "The New Normal"), but just continue to be your very best self, look after those around you, and support those that may not be doing as well. Things will improve and a lot of us are handling this unprecedented year better than we give ourselves credit for.

This week was a bit of a disaster for me, game-wise. A couple of blinding migraines put me off excess screen-staring for a couple of days, then my PS4 - a launch model - finally bit the dust while trying to eek out Ubisoft's Watch Dogs: Legion. This required me to purchase another PS4, just a fortnight before the PS5 drops. Beggars belief. As for DedSec's adventures in old London town, keep your eyes peeled for a review very soon. Oh, it was also my birthday, which saw me enter a new decade. I hope it's a good one.

Hope y'all have had a good week, and have been successful in finding hours of great digital entertainment. This is your time to shine, as always, so jump into the comments below and let us know what games have taken your fancy this week. There are no rules, (there are some rules), but spill the beans on the old, the new, the great, the bad, and everything in between. We love hearing what you've all been up to.

Have a safe and pleasant weekend, from all of us at Destructoid.

In today's contest you can win Black Desert Prestige Edition for PS4 of Xbox One!

So this Black Desert game has been floating around for a long time, now. It started out as a Korea-only MMORPG, but word got out and now it's available here in the West! Or from wherever you're reading this. Whatever.

The game saw its official launch today, and you know how it goes -- we're not just giving away the base game, but also the Prestige Edition content! Check it all out below.

Back in 2018, I talked about how much Spider-Man, as a character, meant to me.

It sounds hyperbolic, but fiction can absolutely get people through some tough times, especially if that character is particularly relatable. Okay, maybe not Spider-Man himself, but Peter Parker sure gets the job done.

The thing is, there are lots of different versions of Spider-Man that people can relate to. Now, we just got another one in Miles Morales — and like the first time around, Insomniac did its job once again.

There's more fuel on the fire of Remedy and 505 Games' Control: Ultimate Edition controversy. Originally, it was early adopters who were incensed that it'd require an entirely new Game of the Year-type edition of Control to access the upgraded versions for PS5 and Xbox Series X. Now it's the Ultimate Edition adopters' turn to be annoyed.

Remedy has revealed that Control's next-gen upgrades have been delayed until early 2021. Anyone who's itching to play the enhanced version on their shiny new consoles will be left waiting.

Harmonix is a fascinating case study of a studio.

What was once the "Frequency/Amplitude" developer (this is how I'll always remember them) eventually made their mark on gaming with the Guitar Heroes series, followed by Rock Band. It's ironic that the folks that helped start the in-home guitar revolution ended up living longer than their creation, having been the steward of Rock Band for around 13 years now.

But Harmonix has always struggled to move out of the shadow of that success. Games like Fantasia: Music Evolved, while fun, never quite put them on the map. Before long the next Rock Band project would be announced and they'd fall back into a comfortable rhythm.

Fuser tries to do something interesting in that same rhythm space, but like several of their other ideas, it comes up short in many respects.

Moon Studios updated Ori and the Will of the Wisps today in preparation for the Xbox Series X/S, and I have a feeling it'll be just the kick in the pants some people needed to check out one of the year's best video games. The team calls it a "huge upgrade" for the new Xbox consoles. It's easy to see why.

Xbox Series X can pull off 4K HDR at 120FPS, and there's even a "6K Supersampled mode" that runs at 60FPS. On Xbox Series S, Will of the Wisps offers 1080p HDR at 120FPS and 4K at 60FPS. Beyond that boost, there are extra niceties like faster load times, high-fidelity audio, and "instant input response."

For anyone still struggling with lingering bugs or crashes, there are new performance and stability improvements "across all Xbox One SKUs," including extra polish "throughout the game experience."

Moon Studios updated the PC version of Will of the Wisps, too. You can dig into more graphics and audio modes (on both the super-high and low end) and benefit from some of those same stability fixes.

Funny enough, I just started playing it this week. The buzz was legit.

Release Notes for Ori and the Will of the Wisps – Xbox Series X|S and More! [Moon Studios]

Online multiplayer support has been a thorny issue for some games recently, and the same can be said for Sackboy: A Big Adventure. While Sumo Digital is planning to support local and online co-op by the "end of 2020," at launch, only two- to four-player local co-op will be included in the PS4 and PS5 game.

"We've made the difficult decision to delay the full online multiplayer functionality within Sackboy: A Big Adventure," design director Ned Waterhouse said today on the PlayStation Blog. "The team have been working hard to ensure that online is the very best experience it can be for players and we just need a little more time to get it right so you can enjoy it to the fullest with your friends and family."

Whenever I hear that online multiplayer is coming later (in this case, it will be added in a free patch shortly after launch), I get a little nervous. When it does show up, will it be stable? Will it need further fixes? It's also worth noting that Sackboy will have "cross-generation multiplayer" on PS4 and PS5.

This delay doesn't change my outlook either way – I'm still looking forward to Sackboy and I still think platformer fans shouldn't sleep on it – but it is a bummer for anyone planning to go the online co-op route. I have an extra DualSense controller, so I'm good to go whenever I end up getting this game.

It's not even a budget concern as much as it is a time issue. I don't have enough!

Any game releasing next week that isn't a part of the big, shiny, new console generation faces the possibility of being forgotten as the industry focuses on the next-gen tech that everyone will be talking about. It would almost seem foolish to position yourself against such gladiators. But the developers at Edelweiss think their game has what it takes to stand out. Against an onslaught of sequels about to hit game stores, they're pitching something unique with Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin.

While many games come and go from my mind, Sakuna's secured itself a nice, comfy spot in the back of my brain when I first saw a trailer for it back in 2018. I wasn't familiar with the developer's previous effort in Astebreed, but its enchanting scenery and rice farming footage made it stand out. At E3 2019, I got to try it out for myself and found it to be a charming action game with the makings of something spectacular.

At the very least, it's different from almost everything else on the market. As I found out in an interview with Edelweiss, that's one of the selling points they believe will keep it in the minds of gamers as it goes up against some heady competition.

There's no topping Miles' Into the Spider-Verse suit, but Peter Parker is adding a few stylish suits to his eclectic wardrobe for Spider-Man Remastered. As if it isn't hard enough already to pick a favorite look.

Apart from the Amazing suit, which Insomniac previously spoke about, Spider-Man Remastered will also add the all-new Arachnid Rider suit and the Armored Advanced suit. You can see them in the gallery below. The Arachnid Rider, in particular, is worth inspecting up close. Zoom in. Check out that detailing.

Even if you're skipping the PS5 remaster, you'll still be able to wear these suits in the original PS4 version of Spider-Man – we just don't know how long the timed exclusivity period will last.

Personally? I'm down for Miles Morales asap, but Spider-Man Remastered isn't a priority.

@PlayStation [Twitter]

We've gotten to the point where Astro Bot is now a series and I am here for it.

The little Sony mascot that could originally starred in 2013's Playroom, before it catapulted into stardom with Astro Bot Rescue Mission: a fully-fledged platformer for PSVR. Now it's out of the VR realm and ready for action once again as, in part, a taster for a new piece of tech.

What crummy fortunetellers and soothsayers we are. We couldn't even predict The Medium's delay before it happened.

The Xbox Series X launch-window lineup took a not-insignificant hit as Bloober Team's new horror game The Medium got pushed back into early 2021. Originally scheduled for December 10, 2020, it has been delayed until January 28, 2021. That's a seven-week setback.

Konami has already gone to great lengths to scrub P.T. from existence, that much is well-documented. Following the cancelation of Silent Hills, P.T. was abruptly pulled from the PlayStation Store and unable to be downloaded ever again. The only way to play P.T. was to already have it on your PS4's hard drive.

Now, Konami has made sure the beloved playable teaser's ghosts remain in the past. After some will it/won't it discussion over P.T. living on through PS5 backward compatibility, it seems as though Konami has delivered the coup de grâce.

Polygon reports that P.T. can't be transferred from a PS4 to the PS5's SSD storage. Because of this, it's not supported through backward compatibility.

Here's what's weird though: Polygon also reports that P.T. worked on the PS5 at one point. In late October, Polygon did a data transfer and played P.T. from the beginning. It was perfectly playable. However, after a factory reset, the transfer couldn't be initiated again. The functionality was removed sometime in the few days leading up to this morning's PS5 review embargo.

Sony points the finger at Konami and calls this "a publisher's decision." Konami had told us in the past that P.T. wouldn't work on PS5, but the logic behind that statement seemed shaky. Konami said that P.T. wasn't PS5-compatible because you could no longer download it from the PlayStation Store. We had already known that. It seemed to reason that anyone who simply transferred the files would be all set.

Despite some earlier attempts at the hobby, I've come to accept that I am not a game collector. I don't have it in me to buy a game with the intention of keeping it forever. I'd rather play it and trade it than keep it on a shelf. However, a few games have warranted return visits over the years, such as my annual trek through Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, for instance, or the occasional dip into the post-game of Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies. Thus, I keep a small binder on my shelve to house those old games.

No More Heroes and No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle have their own page in that old game binder. Every few years, I find myself gravitating back toward them, usually when I need to let out a lot of anger by cutting some fools in half. But I think now is the time for me to give those old games up for good. Not because I'm over them, but because the Switch ports for both games are so much better than the originals.

Out of nowhere, Shenmue III was ensnared by the siren's song of the Epic Games Store. Met to an outcry by tons of backers who felt bamboozled by the near zero hour change (just months before it actually launched), Ys Net and Deep Silver maintained course and kept the exclusivity intact. Until now, that is.

It looks like Epic's exclusive deal is up. We already knew as much, but over on the game's Kickstarter page, it is now fully confirmed that Shenmue III is coming to Steam on November 19. Ys Net says that if you "opted in" to Steam back in late 2019, you're now able to claim your code. A year later. As a reminder, you can check out the full list of PC requirements below.

For Shenmue III, more platforms in any capacity, even within the PC subgroup, is a win. It's still only available on the PlayStation console family, so folks who were holding out for the Steam edition can finally partake. It's also great news for everyone who pulled out of the Kickstarter campaign entirely, as you can casually pick it up on the storefront of your choice going forward.

Steam release announcement [Kickstarter]

PS5 fans are finally getting some details and extended footage taken from the brand new platform exclusive Destruction AllStars, in development at Lucid Games and WuShu Studios. Publisher Sony Interactive has released an extended trailer for the over-the-top and super-kinetic racing title, along with more details regarding AllStar's concepts and modes.

Destruction AllStars will see a madcap roster of dynamic and charismatic characters battle it out in vehicular warfare - the fender-bending impact of games such as Destruction Derby and Twisted Metal mixed with the personality of Overwatch, so to speak. Some of the modes available at launch will include the free-for-all chaos of Mayhem, the grand theft auto action of Carnado, zone-capturing team game Stockpile, and finally the battle royale action of Gridfall.

Racers will also be able to hone their death-defying driving skills in a deep training mode, and bag themselves in-game rewards in a series of single-player challenges. For artistic types, Destruction AllStars will also boost customization options, allowing players to change up their racer and vehicles looks to nail that crowd-pleasing color schemes - a must-have given AllStars' vivid rainbow aesthetic.

You can check out the trailer below. It has to be said that Destruction AllStars doesn't seem to have captured many eyes out of the gate - not helped by receiving an unfortunate delay before it even got the green light - but I still think it's worth keeping an eye on, especially for those who - like myself - tend to forget that the brake button even exists.

ININ Games has announced that retro-infused release Bubble Bobble 4 Friends: The Baron is Back is headed west later this month. The multiplayer take on the classic single-screen platformer will arrive on PS4 and Nintendo Switch on November 17.

Additionally, players who own the vanilla edition of Bubble Bobble 4 Friends will receive a free download the same day adding the new Baron is Back content free of charge. Bubble Bobble 4 Friends includes over 200 stages of classic arcade action and features four-player co-operative play, online scoreboards, and the return of terrifying villain Baron von Blubba. As a bonus, Taito's original 1986 edition of Bubble Bobble is also included as part of the package.

We are just six days away from the launch of Gearbox's epic fantasy adventure, Godfall. The publisher has released a final launch trailer emphasizing the third-person adventure's lush locations, amazing effects, and hard-hitting, ground-shaking combat.

As one of the last of an ancient party of warriors known as The Valorian Knights, players must battle through the elemental realms on an almost foolhardy quest, facing impossible odds en route to a showdown with the mad god, Macros, who has violently conquered the realm of Aperion, leaving it on the precipice of total extinction.

Already skilled in hand-to-hand combat, the Valorian Knights are able to enhance their armor, weaponry, and skills with the use of "Valorplates," Zodiac-inspired relics which add buffs and effects when applied to your protagonist. Fine-tune your knight as befits the realm, and then you can start dishing out the vengeance to everyone standing in your way.

Godfall launches on PC via Epic Games Store on November 12. It will launch on PS5 in Japan, Canada, and North America, with most other territories following one week later on November 19. Various special editions are also available to pre-order.

For years, some dedicated World of Warcraft players have been "multi-boxing," a term that refers to utilizing multiple accounts and machines to play several (or droves of) characters at once.

In the before-times, this was commonly known as "dual-boxing," when players would have two PCs (or a laptop and PC) next to them, allowing two characters to quest together. But over time multi-boxing became a cottage industry for gold farmers, altering the course of Auction House prices and in some cases, the open world experience. Now, Blizzard is taking a stand before the launch of the Shadowlands expansion.

In the innocuously titled post "Policy Update for Input Broadcasting Software," Blizzard directly calls out "third-party input broadcasting software, which allows a single keystroke or action to be automatically mirrored to multiple game clients," using the term "multi-boxing" by name. Blizzard says that this is now an "actionable defense," and will start warning users before suspending/banning them if they detect this activity. They couldn't have put it more plainly: "We strongly advise you to cease using this type of software immediately to maintain uninterrupted access to World of Warcraft."

As someone who has played WoW since the start, this was a long time coming. Although I've known many people with multiple accounts, multi-boxing has always been sort of a grey area, and has gotten much worse in recent years (particularly during Legion into Battle for Azeroth) as software has made it easier to have armies of bots running around.

You might remember we recently reported on an eclectic range of Persona 5-themed teas, which are launching in Japan this December. Well, it looks like your Phantom Thieves tea-party is almost all set to go, with the arrival of this new range of Persona 5-branded cakes, on their way from Japanese patisserie Priroll Bakery.

Returning after a successful run in the 2019 holiday season, these Persona 5 Christmas Cakes come packed with strawberries and one of two flavors of cream: chocolate or vanilla. This would immediately discount them as "Christmas Cakes", here in the UK, where said seasonal dessert is generally a sad-ass fruit cake covered in bland hard frosting.

Now that the PS5 embargo has ended, we can finally talk about (most) of the inner workings!

Amid numerous leaks, one of the big questions we're here to answer is "how much SSD space is available on PS5 by default?" The answer? 667.2GB. By comparison, the Xbox Series X has 802GB of usable SSD space

The most frequent I've asked in my various talks with the developers of Digital Extremes is, "Do you have any information on the next-gen versions of Warframe for me?" As the world crept closer to the launch of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, I kept at it, dying to know how a game that looks so good on the Switch would look with the power of next-gen technology.

But they never had an answer for me. "Nothing to announce on next-gen platforms," they'd say. In fact, they'd act like it wasn't even in their plans. After getting shut down multiple times, I thought maybe Warframe wouldn't see enhancements for next-gen consoles until a few months after release. Turns out, I thought wrong.

Any Warframe players planning on picking up a PS5 will be happy to know Digital Extremes has confirmed the looter shooter will launch this year on the console with an Xbox Series X/S version planned for sometime after. If you like the look of the game on your PS4 already, get ready to see just how much better it can be.

NetEase Games has announced that the mobile version of Koji Igarashi's Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is almost good to go. The Gothic adventure title, shrunken down into pocket-sized form, will launch on the iOS and Android platforms in December, priced around $10.

Developer ArtPlay has managed to squeeze the entire kingdom of Hellhold, complete with all of its post-release DLC into the mobile port, claiming that it has made "no compromise" on visual quality of graphical fidelity. Bloodstained for mobile will utilize an overhauled interface and control scheme, complete with redesigned icons to benefit the reduced screen size. Ain't technology grand?

You can check out a new trailer for Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night on mobile below. In other recent news, Team IGA announced that boss character Bloodless will be added to the playable roster on all platforms at some point in the coming weeks.