Game Informer

Fans of the hyper-patriotic killing machine Peacemaker from James Gunn's most recent film, The Suicide Squad, should prepare for his show early next year. The Peacemaker series sees the return of John Cena in the title role and will debut on HBO Max on January 13.

This eight-episode series will follow the origins of what made Peacemaker, uh... the way he is. Backing up John Cena on the cast are Danielle Brooks as Adebayo, Freddie Stroma as Vigilante, Jennifer Holland as Harcourt, Steve Agee as Economos, Chukwudi Iwuji as Murn, and Robert Patrick as Auggie Smith. 

In a new teaser trailer revealed at DC Fandome, we got our first good look at the show written by James Gunn, who also directed five episodes of the series. Those looking for more of The Suicide Squad's crass humor and violence draped in a warm veil of heartwarming moments humanizing the misunderstood side characters of DCs cannon periphery look to be in luck with Peacemaker.

How's the Peacemaker show looking? Was there anything else you saw from DC Fandome you're looking forward to? Let us know in the comments!

Nintendo's dominant '80s run on the video game industry produced several hit franchises that remain important today. Metroid might not be a massive juggernaut like Super Mario Bros. or The Legend of Zelda, but it's still an icon of the industry ... and for good reason. 

In the first season of Game Informer's Video Gameography podcast, we're tackling Metroid. Developed by Nintendo R&D1 and produced by the creator of the Game Boy, Gunpei Yokoi, Metroid thrilled fans with its creative approach to platforming action. While most games gave you a set path to follow, Metroid dropped you into a haunting, alien world and let you freely explore to discover upgrades and ultimately save the universe from biological warfare. 

Join hosts Ben Reeves (@BenjaminReeves), Marcus Stewart (@MarcusStewart7), and special guest, Game Informer's senior editor Dan Tack (@dantack) for the next hour as we explore Metroid's lore, development history, and lasting impact. 

As we approach the one-year anniversary of the world being changed by the COVID-19 pandemic, I've begun reflecting on the ways I've also changed in that time. As someone who was newly living alone when the lockdown orders came through, the transition from my old life to my current reality was a harsh one. To combat those struggles many of us have faced during this difficult time, I've made a concerted effort to focus on my physical and mental health, and part of that was achieving goals I've long had for myself.

Last week's debut episode was full of exciting Nintendo news, but this week might be even more jam-packed with big topics! Host Brian Shea is joined by fellow Game Informer editor John Carson to chat about all kinds of topics including the recently announced Animal Crossing: New Horizons updates, John's impressions of Pokémon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl, Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl, and plenty more!

If you'd like to follow the people from this episode on Twitter, hit the following links: Brian Shea (@brianpshea), John Carson (@John_Carson)

The All Things Nintendo podcast is a weekly show where we can celebrate, discuss, and break down all the latest games, news, and announcements from the industry's most recognizable name. Each week, Brian is joined by different guests to talk about what's going on in the world of Nintendo. Along the way, they'll share personal stories, uncover hidden gems in the eShop, and even look back on the classics we all grew up with. A new episode hits every Friday!

Sometimes we all need a kick in the pants to get off our bums, get things done, and improve ourselves. That inspirational call to action is found in all kinds of places, including video games. If you’re looking for fun forms of encouragement as you begin to draft your New Year’s resolutions, here are some games that inspired me to be better in one way or another. 

Yakuza: Like a Dragon

Ichiban Kasuga knows how to make lemonade out of Lemon Heads. The dude spends 18 years in prison, and upon his release, he has to deal with the realities of being abandoned and homeless (a subject the game tackles very well). Instead of wasting time moping, though, Ichiban eagerly begins rebuilding his life from scratch, collecting cans for cash and applying for jobs with inspiring persistence. What I love most is that he takes whatever work is available, and doesn’t let pride get in the way. For a guy who once proudly associated with an organized murder gang, Ichiban’s got a great head on his shoulders, and his can-do attitude is infectious. 

The Invincible is an upcoming sci-fi game announced last fall based on the 1964 novel of the same name. The game is the debut title by Starward Industries, a studio made up of ex-Techland and CD Projekt Red designers. After sharing screenshots of the intriguing project, Starward dropped the first teaser trailer, which sets a tense atmosphere for the spacefaring adventure.

Famed sci-fi writer Stanislaw Lem wrote The Invincible, which tells the tale of a spacecraft called Invincible landing on planet Regis III. Its team of explorers is on a mission to locate its missing sister ship, but the crew discovers an alien vessel and a mysterious form of self-replicating life. The trailer introduces protagonists Dr. Yasna, the woman exploring the surface of Regis III, and her ally Astrogator Novik. Starward describes the game as a cinematic adventure thriller with branching storylines leading to multiple endings. 

The Invincible was previously slated for this year but will instead launch in 2022 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. While we still don't have much of a sense of the game's moment-to-moment gameplay, the retro-futuristic aesthetic and celebrated source material should be enough to excite sci-fi fans.

Readers beware! You’re in for a scare! At least, that’s what we hope as we’re taking a week off from our Super Replay of Demon’s Souls to get into the Halloween spirit by playing Goosebumps: Dead of Night! Join us on Twitch at 2 p.m. Central as we revisit our childhoods with the most recent console game based on the live-action films based on the popular children’s horror books. Got all that? 

Goosebumps: Dead of Night is an adventure game that pits players against Slappy the Dummy, who has unleashed all manner of frights upon them. Classic monsters such as the Werewolf of Fever Swamp and the Graveyard Ghoul are just some of the familiar – and frightening faces – we’ll encounter. The game even has a Jack Black-voiced R.L. Stine! Will it be cheesy? Most likely. Should it make for an entertaining romp? You bet your soon-to-be-haunted butts. 

Join Goosebumps fan Marcus Stewart and horror experts Dan Tack and Blake Hester as they dive into this quirky adventure. We’ll have two hours to make it as far into the game’s three chapters as possible. Who knows, we might even beat the game! You’ll have to join us on Twitch to find out or check out our YouTube channel to watch the archived stream over the weekend.

Nintendo has announced the Happy Home Paradise expansion for Animal Crossing: New Horizons, a paid DLC launching next month on November 5. 

This DLC was announced during today’s New Horizons direct, which brought with it tons of details about the game’s last major free update. Happy Home Paradise brings an archipelago to New Horizons that will serve as your villager’s site of work. There, you’ll work as a Paradise Planning designer coordinating “dream lifestyles” for other villagers in the game. 

Basically, you’ll be designing dream vacation homes for people on the archipelago. This includes helping them design their home’s exterior, their interior, their yards, their fences, their everything – if you’ve ever wanted to design more than just your own home, this expansion is for you. 

Today’s Animal Crossing Direct detailed New Horizon's first paid expansion, Happy Home Paradise. It also, unexpectedly, confirmed the pricing for the previously announced expansion to Nintendo Switch Online, which gives players access to Nintendo 64 and Sega Genesis titles.

An individual 12-month membership costs $49.99 annually, while a family membership runs for $79.99. For comparison, 12-month single and family memberships for the current tier of NSO cost $19.99/$34.99, respectively. Although the now-basic tier of NSO has options for one and three-month memberships, the Expansion Pack only offers 12-months. You can read the full list of N64 and Genesis games that will be available here. 

Nintendo also revealed that the Happy Home Paradise expansion will be part of the upgraded subscription tier. That means Animal Crossing: New Horizons players can access the DLC content as long as their subscription is active. You can also purchase the DLC outright for $24.99 to own permanently. 

Today’s Animal Crossing New Horizons direct confirmed that Brewster’s coffee shop, The Roost, is coming to islands in-game alongside new features and returning ones from previous Animal Crossing games on November 5. 

Nintendo hinted that The Roost would be making its way to Animal Crossing New Horizons when it announced today’s direct a couple of weeks ago, and now Brewster’s return has been confirmed. Fans familiar with this bird’s coffee shop will recognize everything you can do in The Roost, although it does offer some fun additions. 

For starters, Brewster will make you coffee as you sit at The Roost’s bar and your neighbors will join you occasionally as well. On top of that, Amiibo cards and figures can be used to invite characters to The Roost and some of them might even bring their own friends. You, online friends, residents, and Amiibo visitors alike can all enjoy the coffee shop at the same time. 

We're back with another exciting episode of The Game Informer Show! Join us on another busy week in the industry where we break down our review thoughts on Back 4 Blood, discuss the news that Pokémon Legends: Arceus isn't exactly open world, and preview Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl! We also chat about our time in the Halo Infinite test flight and Battlefield 2042 Open Beta with special guest Kahlief Adams from Spawn On Me and Riot Games! As always, we round out the show with another fun round of community emails in one of the sillier episodes we've had in a while.

Follow the crew on Twitter: Alex Stadnik (@Studnik76), Alex Van Aken (@itsVanAken), John Carson (@John_Carson), and Kahlief Adams (@KahliefAdams)

Today, Grinding Gear Games unveiled tons of details about the upcoming Scourge expansion during a stream presentation. Many of the aspects you’re probably expecting from most leagues are on full display here, including a massive risk/reward system that has you fueling your items with demonic corruption.

In fact, you’re fueling everything with corruption here as you fill your Blood Crucible with the power of your enemies as you move from map to map, choosing when to activate your device to shift the world into an apocalypse and take on as many demonic entities as you can to glean massive rewards. While you can corrupt all kinds of things and twist them to have new and terrifying powers, you can also level up your Blood Crucible to have more control over your transformative powers. 

As has become the name of the game in Path of Exile over the years, you can pretty much level up and tweak damn near everything in what has become one of the most elaborate “numbers go up” games in recent memory. Yes, this means you can in fact place maps inside the Blood Crucible as well. If you are familiar with the endgame of Path of Exile, the Atlas, where you explore numerous maps with rulesets that you can alter using a multitude of modifiers, you simply add the new twisted corruption aspects into the map system for even more fun and variability.

Bethesda has detailed the first major update for its PlayStation 5 console exclusive title, Deathloop, aptly titled Game Update 1, and it’s now live in-game. 

It brings with it a bevy of fixes, bug squashes, and more. It’s roughly 5GB on PS5 and 11GB on PC, and it’s mostly focused on things like stability in gameplay and new options for players. One thing trophy hunters are sure to be excited about is that Game Update 1 fixes issues related to unlocking the Oops bronze trophy and the Deathday Suit silver trophy. 

“Game Update 1 improves several aspects of the gameplay experience, camera smoothness, and NPC behaviors,” Bethesda’s patch notes blog post reads. “It also resolves several issues that could cause the game to crash.” 

The first game in the cult classic Joe & Mac series is getting a remake. Joe & Mac: Caveman Ninja is coming to unspecified consoles and PC in 2022. 

Joe & Mac, known as Caveman Ninja in Japan, was developed by Data East and first released in arcades overseas in 1991. It launched in North America soon after and has appeared on the NES, Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, Game Boy, Amiga, and PC (among other platforms). You can even play the game, and its sequel, right now on Switch via its online SNES library. As the titular pair of cavemen, you're on a mission to rescue captive cavewomen from a rival tribe. The side-scrolling action consists of using clubs, boomerangs, and other prehistoric weapons to take out other cavemen, dinosaurs, and other threats.  

Developer Turtle Rock Studios' new zombie co-op experience is here, and there's good news for fans hoping for a game in the vein of Left 4 Dead. While Back 4 Blood doesn't reach the heights of its inspirations, the game excels at throwing players in an exciting and tense shooter. To celebrate B4B's release, we're squading up to take down the Ridden live at 2 p.m. CT exclusively on our Twitch!

Join Dan Tack, Alex Stadnik, Marcus Stewart, and special guest Kristin Williams, GI's web designer and programmer, as they take on the role of the Cleaners and play through as many of Back 4 Blood's four acts as we can in two hours. We'll be testing out the game's many weapons, shredding the special Ridden, and exploring the new engaging card system. In our review, we said:

Sure, the campaign for the upcoming Call of Duty is Sledgehammer’s, and you can check out some new story details here. But Call of Duty: Vanguard features efforts from multiple teams, including Treyarch and Raven. Not surprisingly, Treyarch’s years and experience in unleashing the undead are coming into play here for a new Zombies experience known as “Der Anfang” that taps into the Dark Aether storyline. 

Battlefield 2042 is launching with three fun multiplayer experiences. All-Out Warfare's two classic game modes, Conquest and Breakthrough, showcase the power of next-gen technology by dropping 128 players into massive arenas on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. The Battlefield Portal is reminiscent of Halo's Forge. The community can create unique playlists of their own by customizing the rules of engagement while implementing weapons, factions, and more from the franchise's past, present, and future. The final, mysterious game-type, Hazard Zone, was revealed today and offered a new take on the battle royale formula where kills take a back seat to objectives and survival. This game mode is all about "high stakes, squad-based" intensity. 

2042 is a year of political conflict as the US and Russia fight for intel. With only a few low-orbit satellites left – these space capsules are responsible for collecting aerial photography, heat map imagery, ID scanning, etc. – both nations are fighting to secure copious amounts of data. Luckily, the satellites are falling back down to Earth, but who will claim them first? 

Where Cards Fall, the hit puzzle game from Blaseball developer The Game Band, finally migrates from mobile to Switch and PC on November 4. The game was first released on Apple Arcade in 2019, where it earned acclaim and several awards. 

The dreamlike experience sees you building a house of cards, as in using cards to construct actual buildings, to help guide a nameless boy across obstacles. Along the way, you’ll unlock memories that weave an emotional coming-of-age story, from child to adulthood. A collection of 50 beautiful spatial puzzles await, and the mobile-centric control scheme has been retooled for PC and Switch. 

Senior editor Blake Hester interviewed The Game Band almost a year ago to learn more about how Where Cards Fall came to be, what it was like to work with Apple, and how the team brought the game elsewhere. You can give it a read here.

The animated film Injustice will have a segment during this Saturday’s DC FanDome event, but we have an exclusive clip from the movie before the festivities kick-off. In case you’re new to the Injustice lore, Superman has gone bad after Joker kills Lois Lane and establishes a global dictatorship to enforce essentially martial law. That doesn’t sit well with Batman and others, and a civil war erupts between DC’s roster of heroes and villains. 

The clip below provides a glimpse of how Superman flexes his strength to, shall we say, convince the leaders of the world to bend to his whim. 

Injustice takes its story from the pair of well-received fighting games of the same name developed by Netherrealm Studios, the team behind the Mortal Kombat series. It also draws upon the comic series that came after those games. You can buy it on October 19 on Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD. For a longer and darker look at the film, check out the previous Red Band trailer here. 

Rocket League has revealed that its Haunted Hallows 2021 event begins tomorrow and runs through November 1, and it will bring Batman-themed cars, decals, and more to the arena. 

More specifically, Haunted Hallows 2021 will feature a new Gotham City Rumble limited-time mode, new items, and the return of all three Batmobiles previously sold in-game. Alongside all of this, new Halloween Hallows challenges will be added to Rocket League to give players the chance to unlock villain-themed items. 

Everyone who logs in will be able to earn the Dark Knight Player’s Title and by completing challenges, players can earn special limited items like the Joker Dominus Decal and Boost, the Gotham’s Finest Merc Decal, the Harley Quinn Wheels and Topper, the Poison Ivy Boost, and more. 

In Gotham City Rumble, drivers can expect the same Rumble gameplay but with the added twist that power-ups in the mode are themed after Batman and his rogue gallery. Some of the power-ups include Joker’s Boxing Glove, Harley’s Hammer (instead of the Boot), and Poison Ivy’s Vines (instead of the Grappling Hook). 

The quirky Let’s Build A Zoo opens its doors to enterprising zookeepers on November 5. The game hands you the keys to your own sanctuary of animals that you can take in several directions. Whether you want to promote conservation, turn it into a soulless money-making machine, or concoct brand-new creatures using a gene-splicing mechanic, Let’s Build A Zoo has you covered.  

This goofy title lets you erect and design enclosures, buildings, and other infrastructure to house your furry attractions and entertain guests. Though it looks simple, layers of systems allow for a deeper level of play and plenty of customization, including a morality system. Kind-hearted players can properly care of their animals, promote environmentalism, and even save some species from going extinct. Those who prefer to walk on the dark side can exploit critters by building factories designed to squeeze as much cash out of them as possible. 

The game’s other prominent feature is gene splicing. Do you find plain old giraffes boring? Mix its DNA with, say, a bat and see what you get. The game boasts over 300,000 possible combinations of animals; maybe your zoo can exclusively showcase your horrific mistakes miracles of life. Let’s Build A Zoo is coming to PC via Steam for $19.99. 

Heart Machine’s Solar Ash has been delayed. 

Originally set to release on October 26, Heart Machine and publisher Annapurna Interactive announced today that Solar Ash will now release on December 2. The studio says it needs more time to polish the game and squash some bugs. 

We are delaying release of #SolarAsh until December 2, 2021. Full statement here: pic.twitter.com/cfPS5SkbMa

Many of you asked for action-focused footage following the release of our last Saints Row cover video, and we're happy to finally oblige. Today we're showing off an exclusive first look at the reboot's revamped driving system, which includes new ways to engage in car combat! I played a build of Saints Row for several days last month, and the vehicles of Santo Ileso were a joy to maneuver. I'm never the biggest racing fan in the room, but this reboot delivers a delightful arcade racing experience that reminds me of the soft spot I have for series like Need For Speed Underground, Grand Theft Auto, and even the earlier Saints games. 

Binge, the video game-focused entertainment streaming platform that will launch in 2022, is working on a live-action adaptation of System Shock.

This adaptation will steam exclusively on Binge as a series and is being produced with help from Nightdive Studios. According to Deadline, Nightdive has owned the rights to System Shock since purchasing it from the now-defunct Looking Glass Studios in 2012. 

More specifically, Nightdive Studios founder Stephen Kick and director of business development Larry Kuperman will be executive producers for the series. Allan Ungar, who directed the fan-made Uncharted short film featuring Nathan Fillion as Nathan Drake, is Binge’s chief content officer and will produce the series. 

The Call of Duty franchise covers multiple theaters of war, often opting to tell fictional stories within a web of historical conflict (e.g., World at War, Black Ops, the first few games in the entire franchise, etc.). We take on the role of soldiers on the front lines, and sometimes these player characters become mainstays – Captain Price/Roach in Infinity Ward’s original Modern Warfare trilogy and Mason/Woods in Treyarch’s Black Ops franchise. Call of Duty: Vanguard is the latest entry in the long-running CoD universe and its writers want the game’s characters to be mainstays. Vanguard might end up being the first game in another Call of Duty trilogy. 

Industry veteran Jeff Strain has opened Possibility Space, a new game development studio embracing remote work to draw on talent from around the world. 

Strain is a former Blizzard developer, having co-founded ArenaNet, the studio behind Guild Wars, over 20 years ago. He also founded Undead Labs, the studio behind State of Decay that Microsoft acquired in 2018. Possibility Space has already gathered up some impressive talent, too, featuring former developers from Campo Santo, Ubisoft, Insomniac, Double Fine, BioWare, EA, and more. 

Upcoming remakes to the first Nintendo DS Pokémon games, Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl from ILCA are two of the biggest releases set for Nintendo’s holiday lineup. With just over a month until their expected release on November 19, we were allowed to go eyes-on the games in a preview event. We got a glimpse at what’s staying the same in these updated games and which modern conveniences are added to the Sinnoh adventure.

Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are just over a month out from release. These remakes of the fourth-generation classics on Nintendo DS are visually getting a new coat of paint and some updated quality of life functionality.

Most gaming podcasts these days do the same thing: round up the news and talk about the big releases of the week. There is nothing wrong with that, but our love of games isn't tied to a release schedule. Whether you're a hardcore fan or a casual player who only has time for a select number of games a year, the reason you fell in love with this medium is that you loved one game first. We want to put the focus back on some of our favorite franchises, explore how they changed over the years, and examine why they left a mark on the industry.

Video Gameography is a serialized podcast. Each season we'll explore a new franchise and why it's essential. In every episode, we'll examine one game in that series (starting with the first entry), talk about its lore, production history, and the impact it left on those who played it.

There is no shortage of great industry franchises we hope to cover: God of War, Halo, Grand Theft Auto, Doom, The Legend of Zelda, Pokémon, etc. However, our first season zooms in on Nintendo's iconic Metroid franchise. Did you know that Samus' iconic big shoulder design was a result of the limitations of the Game Boy? Or that she was originally named after the legendary Football/Soccer legend Pele? Or that Metroid Fusion is the only game in the series that can be completed with an item collection percentage of zero? 

Join hosts Ben Reeves, Marcus Stewart, and a collection of rotating guests as we examine your favorite gaming franchises. New episodes drop every Saturday, starting on October 16. It's going to be a wild ride. 

The first Mortal Kombat game turns 30 years old in 2022, but series co-creator Ed Boon points out that 2021 marks 30 years since he and fellow creator John Tobias began making the game. To mark the occasion, Boon hopped on Twitter to share a fascinating behind-the-scenes clip of the making of Scorpion’s iconic spear move. 

Mortal Kombat will be 30 years old in 2022. But 2021 marks 30 years since we actually BEGAN working on the game. To celebrate, it seemed like a fun idea to share some behind-the-scenes stuff. This clip shows how we created Scorpion’s iconic (GET OVER HERE!) spear move. (1 of 9) pic.twitter.com/3f1tdvjG9R

— Ed Boon (@noobde) October 12, 2021

Boon’s Twitter thread, which you can view in the link above, breaks down everything behind the over two-minute clip. We see Scorpion actor Daniel Pesina rehearsing the motions for the spear throw and subsequent yank as Boon and Tobias direct him on what Scorpion’s movement and posture should be, which they concoct on the fly. “We certainly did a ton of prep for our video shoots, but some ideas came to us while filming,” says Boon in the thread. “With Scorpion’s spear, it started with ‘You know what would be a cool ass move?’”

Online gaming can be fun for people to get together and jam out some rounds of their favorite games with friends. However, sometimes playing with strangers can be stressful and occasionally offputting or even abusive. Riot Games has undoubtedly had that latter issue in its popular MOBA League of Legends and is now taking more significant steps to curb inappropriate language during games.

Riot announced in a blog post today that it's removing the "/all" chat function in matchmade games of League of Legends, eliminating global written banter between players from both teams in a match. Here's part of Riot's official statement regarding the change:

"While most of our focus around behavioral systems in 2021 has been on gameplay-based behaviors like AFKing and inting, we've heard from you that verbal abuse has been a rising problem this year, too. We're working on a number of changes to systemically address this at both the League and Riot levels, but one direct change you'll see soon is that in patch 11.21, we're disabling /all chat in matchmade queues."

The Saints Row series began in 2006, introducing players to a beloved cast of characters over the subsequent decade. After 2013’s Saints Row IV, where players entered a computer simulation to battle aliens, and 2015’s Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell, where players literally descended into the depths of the underworld to fight Satan, Volition knew it had taken the series to the farthest reaches. Following Gat Out of Hell, Volition took a break from Saints Row.

The series had reached a natural resting point, and rather than continually try to one-up the previous entry with zanier scenarios and more bombastic characters, Volition went back to the drawing board. “It was never spoken out loud with clarity of something like, ‘This is it. We have specifically taken this as far as we would like, and when we do the next game, by God, we’re going to reboot it!’” Volition chief creative officer Jim Boone says. “But I think that everyone had that vibe that we just had fun taking this thing as far as we possibly could and leaving it all out there.”

After years of investigation, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing filed a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard in July. The suit centers around “violations of the state’s civil rights and equal pay laws,” specifically concerning the treatment of women and other marginalized groups at the company. 

Shortly after this revelation, Game Informer obtained a copy of the letter Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick sent to the entire company. In this letter, he states, “we will do everything possible to make sure that together, we improve and build the kind of inclusive workplace that is essential to foster creativity and inspiration,” amongst other promises. 

It's October again, and as any Overwatch fan knows, that means it's time for another Halloween Terror event. 

This year's Halloween Terror 2021 event is now live, introducing new sprays, icons, skins, and of course, the return of Junkenstein's Revenge. Like in previous Halloween-inspired events, this year's Halloween Terror will task players with playing 27 Quick Play, Arcade, or Competitive Play games each week for three weeks. 

After completing nine games, players will earn a new spray, a new icon after 18 games, and finally, a new skin after playing 27 games. Winning a game counts as two games played, so strive to win each match to make quick work of these numbers.