Destructoid

The stars have aligned and this week, the Epic Games Store is giving out three PC games. If you show up before 8:00 a.m. PT on July 16, you can claim The Escapists 2, Lifeless Planet, and Killing Floor 2.

The Escapists 2 is a top-down sandbox-style simulation game about surviving in – and eventually breaking out of – prisons. You can get creative with your exit strategies, and there's a lot of potential for multiplayer hijinks. It might look unassuming, but the series has done shockingly well for itself.

Lifeless Planet looks more interesting than fun to me, if I'm being blunt. It's a sci-fi adventure about an astronaut who inexplicably finds a "deserted Soviet-era Russian town" on a far-off planet. I'm down for that premise, and sometimes I prefer these under-the-radar titles when it comes to giveaways.

You probably know Killing Floor 2 by now. If you don't, it's kind of a lot upfront – but don't let that scare you away. KF2 is a co-op shooter about making horrible freakos explode into nasty little bits, and while I'm not really into its grime-covered aesthetic, there's no denying its cathartic appeal. It feels great.

Next week, Torchlight II will be free to claim on the Epic Games Store from July 16 to July 23.

"Where we droppin', boys" is a common question that kicks off the start of every Fortnite match. Sony's less concerned about where it's droppin, but rather how much. The answer: A quarter of a billion dollars.

According to a report by GamesBeat, Sony has invested $250 million into Unreal Engine and Fortnite creator Epic Games. This strategic investment gives Sony a minority stake in Epic, although the percentage wasn't divulged. Tencent bought a 40 percent stake for $330 million, but that was in 2012 pre-Fortnite; the company is worth a lot more than it was eight years ago. Most important, Epic still owns a controlling stake in itself.

Sony president and CEO Kenichiro Yoshida commented "Throughout our investment, we will explore opportunities for further collaboration with Epic to delight and bring value to consumers and the industry at large, not only in games, but also across the rapidly evolving digital entertainment landscape."

It's unclear how this venture will immediately impact either Sony or Epic. In May, Epic showcased Unreal Engine 5 running on a PS5, but it has already been confirmed that the engine will be available for Xbox developers too. However, as PlayStation is rumored to start porting more of its exclusives to PC, it's looking increasingly likely that those games might not show up on Steam.

Sony invests $250 million in Fortnite maker Epic Games [GamesBeat]

Sony is working its way down the incremental PS5 reveal checklist. Next up? Game cases.

If you were expecting Sony to continue shrouding PlayStation games in blue plastic cases, you're right on the money. It's business as usual for the PlayStation 5. That said, the box art branding won't stay the same. Instead of white on blue, it has a black-on-white banner to match the console's funky design.

Does the PlayStation branding stand out? Sure. The label pops. Do I like it any better? Nope!

First look: Box art for upcoming PS5 games [PlayStation Blog]

Ghost of Tsushima is nearly out, which means it's time for Sucker Punch to really start promoting it. The filter previously known as "Cinema Mode" that was clearly paying homage to old school Japanese films is now officially titled "Kurosawa Mode," and they have the receipts to prove that they actually did their homework to earn that moniker.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, creative directors Nate Fox and Jason Connell state that Sanjuro was perhaps their biggest influence for the game, especially in regards to the standoff mechanic that Tsushima features.  But they went a step further and actually reached out to the Kurosawa estate (influential director Akira Kurosawa passed away in 1998) to get their blessing for the cinema mode, naming it in his honor.

Connell says that the filter is a lot more than just a black and white tint, noting, "We actually did some research on the curves that may have existed on that kind of film that [Kurosawa] might've used." The team also added in film grain, a more dramatic wind aesthetic and deepened the black tones while brightening the white tones. Stay tuned for our review closer to launch!

So what's my favorite Kurosawa film? Probably Rashomon.

How Ghost of Tsushima teamed with Akira Kurosawa's estate for new cinematic mode [Entertainment Weekly]

It's time for yet another Magic: The Gathering set, which means that it's time for another Magic: Arena set.

As the two formats — paper and digital — debut together, we enter yet another busy year with four sets to juggle in 2020: that's Theros: Beyond Death, Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths, the newly minted Core 2021 and the upcoming Zendikar Rising.

Let's take a look at Core 2021.

Electronic Arts has released a new trailer for its upcoming arena shooter Rocket Arena, which was first revealed during the EA Play presentation last month. Developed by First Strike Games, Rocket Arena is a hero-based shooter where each character is kitted out with particularly explosive firepower.

The new video introduces us to the world of "Crater," the battleground in which players will face off in bombastic three-on-three combat. Crater features a wide variety of maps, ranging from the archaeological dig-site Stompy's Refuge and the sky-high Golden Zephyr, to the gothic snows of Icefall Keep and the aqua-world known as the Shimmering Depths. Take a tour of this colourful kingdom in the near three-minute preview below.

After weeks of ports, the time has finally come yet again for the Switch to get some juicy fresh releases.

Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2 (review coming soon!) is one to look out for on July 10, as is the long-awaited console release of CrossCode and Neon Abyss (July 14). Deadly Premonition 2 is also a big get for the Switch as a full-on exclusive (for now, at least) from visionary director Swery65.

Here's the rest of the lot!

WayForward Games has announced that some of Shantae's earliest escapades are set to return on the Nintendo Switch platform, giving new fans the opportunity to check out the humble origins of everybody's favourite Half-Genie Hero.

Shantae's first adventure - originally released for the Game Boy Color back in 2002 - will be added to the Nintendo eShop at some point this fall, though a specific release date was not announced. Furthermore, physical media-lover Limited Run Games revealed that it not only intends to release a hard copy of Shantae for the Nintendo Switch, but it will also facilitate a new run of cartridges for the Game Boy Color, hopefully allowing the cute adventure to find the sales success it failed to achieve upon its original release.

"Over the last decade, Shantae has built up a thriving fanbase, which is a dream come true!" said Shantae co-creator Matt Bozon in a press release. "Unfortunately, this also means that the majority of Shantae fans missed out when it came to owning a copy of her first adventure, which had a very low production run back in 2002. Thanks to Limited Run Games, everyone will have a chance to own a copy of the original Shantae."

World of Warcraft expansions can be like Star Trek movies: every other one nails it, at least in the eyes of the community.

While I adored many aspects of Battle for Azeroth, it was one of Blizzard's most heavily criticized expansions yet, especially coming off of the almost universally beloved Legion (our readership felt the same!). Now they're getting another shot to wow us with Shadowlands. So far, I think they might be able to pull it off.

Publisher Atlus has expressed its happiness with the sales of recent releases within its beloved JRPG series, Persona. As noted in the company's latest financial report, both Persona 5 Royal and Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers exceeded the company's sales expectations.

Though Atlus has not revealed the specifics regarding unit numbers or revenue gained, the publisher is undoubtedly pleased with the overall sales of 2016's Persona 5, 2019's Persona 5 Royal, and 2020's Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers - the latter of which is still yet to receive a western localisation. In addition, the recent PC port of 2012's Persona 4 Golden is also said to have been a huge success, and will no doubt pave the way for future PC endeavours.

Electronic Arts has released a trailer for The Sims Spark'd, a brand-new reality show that is coming to U.S. television network TBS and the BuzzFeed Multiplayer YouTube channel.

According to the 90-second preview, The Sims Spark'd will feature a glut of beautiful people creating characters and stories within EA's hugely successful life-maker, The Sims 4. Over the course of four episodes, 12 contestants will take on numerous design challenges in efforts to walk away with a grand prize of $100,000. One contestant tells us that she's "In it to win it," so I guess we have a victor already. The show also promises many emotional moments, with a lot of hugging, crying, and high-fiving.

[Update: Tomy has confirmed to Destructoid that Zoids Wild: Blast Unleashed is coming to Switch this October. It'll feature 3D 1v1 combat with story and versus mode support. You can catch the new trailer above.]

Zoids has survived for nearly four decades now. Can you believe it?

While so many other major toy-cross-media franchises have come and gone, or went on hiatuses then thrown as a bone to Michael Bay, Zoids has remained an enduring series in Japan and in many parts of the world. It still actively hosts video game adaptations too, including a newly announced Switch game.

Revealed in Japan's Weekly Jump magazine, it will be part of the Zoids Wild universe, and will launch later this year in Japan. Apparently one huge aspect of the game is customization, including ways to alter Zoids (the titular robots that resemble animals) to the player's liking. Like the most recent Switch iteration, Zoids Wild: King of Blast, you'll probably have to import this one. Good thing Switch carts will work cross-region!

As a refresher, Zoids Wild is the newest anime series (the fifth incarnation total) and toy line. Here's a bonus bit of nostalgia for you: a Zoids Chaotic Century trailer in 4K!

Weekly Jump [Viz via Gematsu]

Crash Bandicoot is officially back.

He's getting another real core entry (that retroactively bills itself as the "fourth game") and now, a mobile spinoff. The whole Temple Run formula thing (which has been endlessly used for ages) is the framework, with King (under the umbrella of Activision) at the helm.

Previously referred to as "Crash Bandicoot Mobile," the game is now titled "Crash On the Run." According to King it'll have boss fights in addition to the normal running formula, as well as "social, crafting and base building elements" (there we go! There's the microtransaction angle). As for the story, Neo Cortex is at it again in an attempt to control the multiverse: much like the narrative of the aforementioned Crash 4.

Pre-registration is live now on Android and iOS for a future launch date.

You like Tetris right? How about money? We can always have more of that, so what if I told you that you could win money just by playing Tetris against other people? Today N3TWORK has announced that there will be a daily game show taking place within the mobile version of the Soviet classic where you can win real cash prizes.

Every night at 7:30 PM, there will be a show hosted by New Zealand actor Millen Baird where players will fight against each other - and the board - for a $5,000 daily prize pool. The timing of the show will be dependent on your proximity to what N3TWORK is calling "anchor cities." The current cities are Auckland, Perth, Moscow, Berlin, London, New York City and Los Angeles. So whichever of those cities is closest to you will be the time to base your start time off of.

The app is free to download on Android and iOS and if you live in the United States, Canada (excluding Quebec, sorry Bass), United Kingdom, Germany, Ireland, Spain, Switzerland, Belgium, Sweden, Norway, South Africa, Russia, Chile, Australia (excluding New South Wales) or New Zealand, you can participate for free every night. No doubt this is going to pull out some of the better players in the world so be ready to face down folks like Wumbo or Doremy. That should be fun to watch go down on a worldwide scale.

In today's contest you can win a Steam copy of Forgotten Fields, as well as a prize pack featuring art from the game!

Do you guys remember Rainswept? I sure do! It's one of the first contests where I really fell in love with the title. I've had some other memorable ones over the years, but man I was really into that one.

When Rainswept dev Frostwood Interactive came to me with an opportunity to support their new title, Forgotten Fields, with a similar prize pack as before, I jumped at the the opportunity. So, let's get to it: We're giving away three prize packs for the new title, so apply now!

Live with a weird intro long enough and it becomes normalized. A dude with a valve in the back of his head? Don't worry about it. The guy before him with a plugged-up eye? He's fine. Play some Half-Life.

Valve's logo splash screen has evolved over the years, but at this point, the iconic "bald guy" image has settled into place. Several months ago, he made the unnerving jump to VR with Half-Life: Alyx.

If you've ever wondered what the Valve guy looks like up close, in too much detail, here's your answer.

someone finally went into the half life alyx files and pulled out the valve guy model and pic.twitter.com/A50D8UpjlP

— samantha morgan |bIm| (@electrotriple) July 7, 2020

there are some things I never thought I was supposed to see pic.twitter.com/YhTlzmdFOp

— samantha morgan |bIm| (@electrotriple) July 7, 2020

Legend has it he's the last thing you see before you die.

If you've never heard the bald guy's origin story, it's a fascinating bit of video game trivia.

There are few game developers that carry themselves as mysteriously as Valve does. What happens behind those doors among all those sliding desks? What has Valve worked on, deemed not good enough, and subsequently scrapped? 

Some answers -- surely not all, but some -- are coming soon enough. Geoff Keighley has been working on a documentary about what Valve has been up to for the past decade, all framed around the recent release of Half-Life: Alyx. Here's a new trailer:

Electronics Arts shareholders congregate in a month's time to vote on the publisher's future. One item on the docket is the continued pay structure for EA's executives. There's a group who really hopes shareholders put an end to the status quo.

CtW Investment Group has filed a report with the SEC that encourages voters to vote against EA's Say-on-Pay proposal. The reasoning mainly hinges on the exorbitant bonuses that EA ends up lavishing upon its execs. CtW argues that EA "is becoming a serial granter of special awards," and going so far as to say "EA appears to be developing a special award grant addiction." In the report, CtW mentions that COO/CFO Blake Jorgensen and CTO Kenneth Moss both received overlapping equity bonuses that triggered a second award before the first award's performance period had concluded.

Further, CtW calls out the fact that there's no good reason for executive pay-for-performance structures to exist. In fact, they're redundant. Many executives (including the ones at EA) are heavily compensated in company stock options. If they succeed at their jobs and help grow the company, the stock appreciates. Their pay-for-performance is already baked into their organization's stock price. Heaping bonuses of more equity on top of it all is unnecessary.

The PlayStation Store is doubling up on discounts this week, and if nothing else, I'm considering Far Cry 3 Classic Edition. I don't need to tear through the tropics again, but for three bucks, well, maybe I do!

There are two lists to scroll through if you're looking to shovel more PS4 games into your backlog. The July Savings sale has Bloodborne Complete Edition for $17.49, No Man's Sky for $24.99, Resident Evil 7 for $9.99, Inside for $7.99, Horizon Zero Dawn: The Frozen Wilds for $4.99, and Jak and Daxter for $7.49.

After a recent delay brought on by COVID-19 and Supermassive's transition to a remote-work pipeline, The Dark Pictures: Little Hope is stepping out of the fog on October 30, 2020. Considering the subject matter (college students stranded in a town haunted by witch trials), the revised release date fits.

I'm sure you know the drill by now – or maybe not; it's tough to gauge how many Until Dawn fans are even aware of The Dark Pictures, much less sticking with it – but Little Hope is the second tale in Supermassive's new choice-driven world of horror following 2019's ghost ship story Man of Medan.

Like before, they're smartly pushing the better-with-friends angle. Little Hope has a solo mode, a two-person "online shared story" mode, and a two- to five-player "offline movie night" mode. I appreciate those options and the fact that this will be playable on not just PS4, but PC and Xbox One too.

If my playthrough looks anything like this footage, I messed up. Let's keep everyone alive (this time).

It's the 20th anniversary of Final Fantasy IX and I feel fine. And old, like all those articles tell you to feel! The actual anniversary was July 7, in fact, and I can vividly recall going to my local EBX (Electronics Boutique/GameStop) to pick it up.

My expectations were high given how much I enjoyed both VII and VIII (which I got at the same EBX), but it also blew me away. Final Fantasy IX character designer Toshiyuki Itahana, event designer Kazuhiko Aoki and director Hiroyuki Ito all managed to catch up via an official Square Enix interview to talk about how the entry impacted them, too.

Aoki reminds us that the idea of "bringing the series back to its roots" was always a thing, which influenced the existence of the crystals and the "back to basics" medieval theme following the futurist tones of its two predecessors.

He also explains that if he had one wish, he would have gone back and expanded upon how "Zidane is afflicted by the difference in social status between him and Garnet a little more," by "Illustrating the breakdown of relations with the nobles in Treno due to their disapproval of Zidane and Garnet’s relationship." It sounds like a noble goal, despite the fact that the story was pretty packed already and full of interpersonal relationships.

Oddly enough Aoki can't recall why the game's characters were all designed to look short, but notes that they "excel at showing a certain sweetness or silliness," a byproduct of that design. The interview also touches on a few obscure or otherwise forgotten elements of the game, so if you're a diehard fan, it's worth a read.

The brawl must go on. In a blink-and-you'll-miss-it River City Girls segment during Limited Run's LRG3 annual game announcement show this afternoon, the publisher shared that it's "teaming up once again with WayForward to bring back Misako and Kyoko for more action in the future."

WayForward's after-the-stream recap tweet didn't shed more light on the collaboration.

Great news, River City Girls fans! We're thrilled to confirm that, as mentioned on @LimitedRunGames' LRG3 stream, more RCG action is on the way! We don't have any more details to share at this time, but stay tuned for updates in the future! pic.twitter.com/NY66kLl2aa

— WayForward (@WayForward) July 8, 2020

It's unclear what exactly "more action" could mean – I might be getting ahead of myself by expecting an eventual sequel or even just a bit of DLC – but it's nice to hear that River City Girls won't be forgotten.

In any event, the lack of online co-op is still a big sticking point for some players.

Sometimes you need to return to your past to see a way forward, and honestly, I believe nothing could be truer for the Story of Seasons franchise. Since the split with Natsume, its games have gotten better, but those improvements have been saddled with a lack of trust in its audience and this overwhelming need to hold our hands for hours on end. 

A return to Friends of Mineral Town may not have been my first choice for a mainline Story of Seasons game on the Switch, but after spending several springs in it, it's the game I most want the developers to look back at when they get around to creating the next original entry in the series.

Ever since the reveal of Xbox's Smart Delivery program that offers free current- to next-gen game upgrades, you just knew that some of the more notorious publishers weren't going to make it that easy. EA has a "dual entitlement" system that puts time constraints on the process. 2K is foisting a $100 special edition of NBA 2K21 upon players that contains both the Xbox One and Xbox Series X discs.

Microsoft is doing what it can to draw a line in the sand. According to a report from Video Games Chronicle, Xbox has plainly told developers that they can't frame next-gen upgrades as paid DLC as a way of circumventing Smart Delivery. Unless some lobbying and politicking gets big enough to pull strings, we shouldn't see any upgrade schemes akin to "Pay $10 to go from the existing Xbox One version to the Xbox Series X version."

Of course, there are loopholes and publishers will find them. For instance, current-gen owners could be offered a discount on a next-gen second copy of the game at a discount. Or, as VGC points out, publishers could turn to retailers like Amazon to implement a redemption process for upgrading physical copies.

There are player incentives for developers and publishers to opt into Smart Delivery, though. Games that aren't a part of Smart Delivery won't have automatic cross-saves and cross-progress. Additionally, Microsoft emphasizes that the tools for Xbox Series X development are the exact same tools for developing on Windows 10 PC, Xbox One, and Project xCloud. In theory, it should not be burdensome to enable Smart Delivery.

During yesterday's Nacon Connect presentation, the publisher revealed that Eko Interactive's hack 'n' slash title Warhammer: Chaosbane will be making the leap to the next-gen, receiving a port on both the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X platforms.

Already available on PS4, PC, and Xbox One, Warhammer: Chaosbane allows up to four players to choose from a selection of five distinct classes, (Soldier, Dwarf, Dwarf Engineer, High Elf, and Wood Elf), before charging into violent battle with the forces of Chaos. Warhammer: Chaosbane blends the loot-gathering, dungeon-crawling gameplay of titles such as Diablo III with the characters and worlds of Games Workshop's legendary tabletop franchise.

Warhammer: Chaosbane received mediocre reviews on launch, with many critics and fans finding the gameplay a little generic when compared to its contemporaries. Whether these next-gen editions will be direct ports, or whether Eko Interactive will take the opportunity to address some of these concerns remains to be seen.

Warhammer: Chaosbane is currently in development for PS5 and Xbox Series X. It is available now on PS4, PC, and Xbox One.

Fans of sword-wielding mechs have a lot to look forward to in Panzer Paladin, an upcoming Zelda II-inspired action-platformer from Tribute Games, the studio behind Mercenary Kings and Flinthook. Today, the retro-loving team locked in the game's launch day on Nintendo Switch and Steam: July 21, 2020.

The release date trailer isn't much to go on if you've never seen Panzer Paladin in action, but this gameplay trailer from May has the right stuff. It's a classic globetrotting adventure (I love the stage-select screen), and when you aren't slaying demons with "over a hundred melee weapons" and casting spells from the comfort of a mighty mech suit, you'll zip around as a little pilot with a grappling hook.

Like Tribute's prior work, Panzer Paladin speaks to me on a fundamental level. There's a certain magic to games that can balance old-school roots with more modern touches, and I'm feeling it here.

I also feel like Zelda II is a flawed but fascinating game to draw from. It's such an untapped resource.

I'll take "cool things that never ended up happening" for $1000, Alex.

As we know, the new Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (which really should have "2019" in its title to be real), never ended up having a zombies mode. Not every entry since World at War started the trend has done it, mind, but over time Activision's various studios all warmed up to the idea (remember the alien one?).

Modern Warfare (2019) could have had one too, but it never got past the planning stage: at least according to artist Aaron Beck. This past week, Beck muses that they "finally got clearance" to share this art, which showcases an "unused concept" from the early days of Modern Warfare's (2019) production.

Beck says that originally zombies were considered, with the spin of having them be held captive by leashes on quadruped robots. If you told me this was a screenshot from an upcoming Metal Gear Solid game featuring a boss who commands a zombie robot horde, I'd believe you. Instead, we'll have to settle for that already disappointing Metal Gear zombie game that actually exists.

Aaron Beck [Instagram]

During yesterday's Nacon Connect presentation, we got a closer look at Rogue Lords, the creepy-kooky-spooky-ooky roguelike first revealed during last month's PC Gaming Show.

Co-developed by Cyanide and Leikir Studios, Rogue Lords has players take on the mantle of the Devil himself, who returns from the underworld with devious machinations of becoming ruler of all of humanity. Calling upon legions of the undead, players will build parties out of such (in)famous names as Count Dracula, Bloody Mary, Baron Samedi, The Headless Horseman and many other ne'er do wells, before taking on squads of fearless demon hunters in a quest for the ancient artifacts that will allow Big Red to regain power

Later this year Bungie set to introduce the controversial "vault" system into Destiny 2.

In short, certain elements will be sunset (removed) from the game, possibly to return at a later date. That includes items as well as full-on activities and events. Any long-term Destiny 2 fans will certainly remember the Leviathan, Eater of Worlds, Spire of Stars Crown of Sorrow and Scourge of the Past raids: well, those are being sunset when Beyond Light hits in September.

The good news is that Bungie is allowing them to be farmed indefinitely without the weekly lockout restriction. In other words, you can run any of these raids multiple times a day and earn rewards constantly: without having to wait a week. Ancillary exotic rewards are also included in this imitative, and Bungie is throwing in a list of cosmetic rewards for completion (which you can view below).

If you finish them all, you'll also "earn the right to purchase" a real-life ring through the Bungie store. I still have the original Destiny 1 Moments of Triumph shirt!

Bungie Day [Bungie.net]

England's greatest fictional detective (no, not that one) is getting set to make his grand return next week, as puzzle-adventure Professor Layton and the Lost Future HD will be making the leap onto iOS and Android platforms worldwide come July 13.

Originally released for the Nintendo DS way back in 2008, Professor Layton and the Lost Future, (known as the "Unwound Future" in North America), is the third title in the popular, brain-teasing franchise. The story sees our hat-wearing hero embroiled in a complex mystery involving alternate timelines and twisted fates, while gameplay consists of a variety of puzzles and mini-games, as is the series' wont.

Professor Layton and the Lost Future HD is an enhanced edition of the original game, featuring high-resolution, re-drawn visuals and an overhauled control system optimised for touchscreen devices. You can check out a brand new trailer for the mobile port below.

Professor Layton and the Lost Future HD launches July 13 on iOS and Android.

Today on Blizzard's World of Warcraft: Shadowlands stream (one of many summer individual game streams), the company revealed that the upcoming expansion will not be delayed. Hopefully these devs are dealing with a decreased stress load and the bulk was already finished before the pandemic.

On stream, executive producer John Hight emphatically stated that "Shadowlands will arrive in the fall, even if we have to ship it from our homes." Hight followed that up by confirming that Shadowlands will leave its alpha form and will be entering a beta state next week.

Game director Ion Hazzikostas also gave us some stats for that alpha period, including the fact that in the three months since it started, that 817,508 quests have been completed, 2,124 players reached veteran status for Exile's Reach, Torghast was run 62,727 times (with 11, 218 Tarragrue deaths) and there have been 64,440 bug reports. Thank goodness for real alphas!

The beta will be "feature complete" according to Hazzikostas, with a level cap increase of 60 and a "first look" at the endgame (mostly having to do with max world content like raids/dungeons/open world play and the covenant system).

You can also get a closer look at the extras in the Shadowlands collector's edition in the gallery below (including the mouse pad and the pin set for each expansion faction).

It's an odd industry. An industry where a marketing tactic has become so despised and so commonplace that developers feel the need to actively reassure fans that it will not be implemented in their new games. The tactic in question? Microtransactions. And the game? THQ Nordic's Biomutant.

In an interview with Well Played, Experiment 101's studio head Stefan Ljungqvist was asked about his team's plans regarding DLC, or any other post-release content for the anthropomorphic adventure. While Ljungqvist hinted that DLC is a possibility, he plainly stated that Biomutant will "definitely not" feature any form of microtransactions.

As a quick refresher, Biomutant is a dystopian anthropomorphic adventure that heavily emphasises character customisation, weapon adaptation, and loot gathering. Players will have the opportunity to constantly re-tool their raccoon hero with a wide array of custom gear, upgrades and weapons, but clearly none of these items will be made available as in-game purchases. Honestly, microtransactions would make for an odd partner for the whole "Zen and Enlightenment" vibe that Biomutant is clearly very proud of.

Biomutant is currently scheduled to launch in 2020 for PS4, PC, and Xbox One. You can check out a full 10-minute gameplay montage right here.

The new Pokemon DLC, Isle of Armor, has been out for a few weeks, and I'm still very much enjoying the open range Wild Area. What I'm not enjoying, however, is the raid matchmaking issues.

The new DLC patch, version 1.2.1, fixes one raid battle bug, but not the one we all want. Instead, the update patches over the password system: which previously allowed players to enter battles even though their passwords weren't matching up. But real talk? That's actually a good ass bug!

If I was getting matched with more people than expected, even when setting a private password, that's kind of a bonus. As is, raids are still very much "you're either getting a bad AI team or no one," and that's kind of a problem when Nintendo is charging money for online play.

"Several other issues" were fixed in a typical vague patch notes kind of way, too!

Version 1.2.1 [Nintendo]

Tekken 7 producer Katsuhiro Harada has gotten fans all in a tizzy once again, after tweeting out an image from the Tekken studio's inner sanctum, which sneakily references Sega's Yakuza series and its head-bashing protagonist, Kazuma Kiryu.

The tweet is a simple photograph of a picture board, with various bizarre in-game images pinned up, (including a terrifying close-up of robo-gal Alisa). Eagle-eyed fans however have spied that the top-right image features a stage not currently available in Tekken 7. Specifically, the background contains the logo of real-life Japanese restaurant Matsuya's, which itself appears frequently in the Yakuza series.

The mask from The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask is actually iconic. Not "Aiden Pearce's hat" iconic (I will never let that go), but actual iconic. Even now, those Nintendo 64 visuals combined with that damn mask still haunt souls all across the world. Now you can put it in your house and freak everyone out.

From First 4 Figures, this new mask statue is available for pre-order for a fourth quarter 2020 release for $99.99 (for the exclusive edition). It's a "PVC painted collectible" with two LED modes (static and pulsing eyes), along with an authentication card and a leaflet. Measuring at 12 inches, it's a hefty size.

As far as First 4 Figures go, this is on the cheaper side, as some of their pieces range in the $200-$400 sliding scale: a list that includes the (now sold out) 25-inch resin Majora's Mask for $385. I avoid mass-collecting statues for this reason! That, and space.

Majora's Mask [First 4 Figures]

2K Games has released a plethora of new details regarding its over-the-top wrestling title WWE 2K Battlegrounds, which was first revealed back in April of this year. The new title will launch September 18 on PS4, PC, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Stadia.

Developed by Saber Interactive, WWE 2K Battlegrounds features highly stylised visuals, super-powered maneuvers, and a simple-to-grasp control system, not dissimilar to THQ's 2011 hit WWE All-Stars. Players can take on the roster in the single-player Campaign Mode, or square off against up to three opponents in local and online multiplayer. If you really want to grab the brass ring (pal), then try taking on all-comers in cage matches, the Royal Rumble, or the all-new "King of the Battleground" mode.

You'd be forgiven for thinking otherwise on most days, but Super Nintendo and NES games are still trickling into the Nintendo Switch Online library. On July 15, 2020, Nintendo is adding three more games to the paid service: Donkey Kong Country, Natsume Championship Wrestling, and The Immortal.

As one of the most frequently-requested games, Donkey Kong Country needs no real introduction. It's not the best in the series – we can bicker over DKC2 and DKC3 all day long (they're both essential platformers in my eyes) – but the original DKC is still a staple of the Super Nintendo library.

I'll need to defer to Moyse for Natsume Championship Wrestling, and as for the NES title The Immortal, it only rings a bell for me because of a super elaborate Angry Video Game Nerd episode from last year.

Can Nintendo hear our PSI-powered pleas? We must not be getting through.

In today's contest you can win Clash Force for Switch, PS4, or Xbox One!

These things just come together: A developer called Spicy Gyro Games made a retro sidescroller based on the concept of an 80s cartoon and there's a fudging rhino riding a rocket.

I said, THERE'S A RHINO RIDING A ROCKET.

Alright, 'nuff said. It's called Clash Force and we're giving it away. Because rhinos, rockets, and whatnot.

Sega isn't done scaling down beloved old video game hardware. The company's next retro revival project for 2020, at least in Japan, is the Astro City Mini – a tiny arcade cabinet featuring 36 games.

The Astro City Mini surfaced in a now-removed article on Game Watch, and according to Sega Driven, the six-button white-and-green device will have microswitches, support for two "additional joysticks" via USB, and HDMI out (so you can hook it up to your TV). It's powered with a micro-USB cable.

The complete game list isn't finalized for the Astro City Mini, but here's the initial batch of titles from the Game Watch report: Alien Syndrome, Alien Storm, Golden Axe, Golden Axe: Revenge of Death Adder, Columns II, Dark Edge, Puzzle & Action: Tant-R, Virtua Fighter, Fantasy Zone, and Altered Beast.

It's reportedly launching in Japan later this year for 12,800 yen (or about $120).

Between this cool little arcade cabinet that has enough familiar names and the so-small-it's-approaching-avant-garde Game Gear Micro, I know which device I want to see here in the West.

If you've never seen Dark Edge in motion before, it's fascinating and jarring.

Astro City Mini Featuring Golden Axe: Revenge of Death Adder Coming Later in 2020 [Sega Driven]

Rocket League turns five this month, the age where children go to kindergarten and start playing Fortnite. In that time, every person on earth has scored four Rocket League goals -- or so the averages say.

Psyonix released some big-ass Rocket League numbers and it seems that 29 billion goals have been scored (not in one match). Defense wins championships! Sounds like everyone needs to work on their back-post rotations and stop ball-chasing like a mindless idiot. Not everyone can be big-brained enough to hire a coach like I did.

But, to be fair, all those goals come across 5 billion matches from 75 million lifetime players. Those numbers will swell drastically if Rocket League eventually goes free-to-play as been long-rumored ever since Epic bought Psyonix.

In other lighthearted news, Psyonix has added the following Octane decal to the item shop today. The irony of your toxic teammate berating you while wearing a classy tux is enough to make your head explode.