Game Informer

While Xbox has been bridging the gap between console and PC for years due to Microsoft's corporate umbrella, the PlayStation camp has largely stuck to its guns regarding its console-exclusive lineup. Like Sony's stance on backwards compatibility, it looks like it is changing its mind regarding a PC presence, something story-loving fans have already witnessed with the PC ports of Horizon Zero Dawn and Death Stranding. So what's next? Beginning with Days Gone, more PlayStation titles will be making the jump to PC, according to CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment Jim Ryan. 

In a recent interview with GQ Magazine, Ryan opened up a little more about the impact of COVID-19 on the new generation, VR improvements for the PlayStation 5, and more about bridging the gap between consoles and PC. 

After some playful banter on Twitter yesterday involving Tony Hawk, Nintendo, and Activision, the curtain has been pulled back to reveal that Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 is coming to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X in March, and Switch sometime this year. The title, which remakes the beloved Tony Hawk's Pro Skater and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 with modernized visuals, a soundtrack full of THPS songs old and new, online features, and an expanded skater roster, launched last year on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.

Those who decide to go for the the new-gen versions of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 will notice various performance upgrades. The PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X versions deliver 120 frames per second at 1080p resolution or 60 frames per second at native 4K resolution. The PS5 and Xbox Series X versions also deliver spatial audio, sharper dynamic shadows, reflections, and lens flares, and enhanced skater textures. The Switch doesn't offer the oomph of the new-gen consoles, but it does allow players to take the game on the go in handheld form.

Sony has confirmed the return of PlayStation's Play At Home initiative, which is set to kick off at the start of next month to bring a wave of new free games and entertainment for fans to enjoy. 

The announcement began with a small reflection back on 2020 and the impact that the global pandemic had on many communities, including our own. It is due to these "historic times" that Sony wanted to give back to players, giving fans "something to look forward to and another reason to stay safely socially distanced" while efforts continue towards the goal of returning to some form of normalcy. To help make safety more enticing, Play At Home will offer free games to enjoy and other forms of entertainment for the month of March. 

In April 2020, the Play At Home initiative was created, offering up both Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection and Journey as the freebies offered. President and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment Jim Ryan mentioned in his announcement that "I like to think they helped make the year just a little bit easier." As the pandemic's influence continues to spread, Ryan and co. have decided it was high time to bring this program back. 

The 2021 Play At Home initiative officially kicks off on March 1 and will run until June. According to Sony, this is what PlayStation fans can look forward to for the next few months:

It seems that there was much more behind the scenes of the development of Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 because Paradox Interactive has decided to part ways with Hardsuit Labs, the studio developing the upcoming title. The change of hands this late in development has understandably caused a delay for the game itself and existing pre-orders have been canceled. 

The news was confirmed on the official Bloodlines 2 website after an extended stretch of time where news was at a standstill. Now the silence makes sense, though the publisher, Paradox, does confirm that the game is "still in development." 

The message continues, saying that the publishing studio has made the "hard decision that Hardsuit Labs will no longer be leading the development of Bloodlines 2 - which also means that we will not be releasing in 2021 as previously planned." With no new release window at this time due to the changed hands, the team also confirms that new pre-orders will not be accepted until a firmer release update is confirmed. 

"This game is very important to us and it has been an ambitious project from the very start," continues the developer update. "In order to meet our goals for it, we've come to the conclusion that a change is needed and, as a result, more development time is required." 

Sony has a new, dedicated PSVR headset in development for PlayStation 5. The company made the surprise announcement today on the PlayStation Blog, providing a glimpse of the headset’s new features and improvements.

Unfortunately, Sony didn’t share any images of the headset itself and confirmed that it will not be launching in 2021. The company only states that they’ve learned many lessons from PSVR on PS4, and that the new-gen headset will have improved resolution and field of view. It will also connect to the PS5 using a single cord, eliminating the cumbersome processor box and multiple wires that the current PSVR requires. 

Sony also touched on the new VR controllers, saying they will incorporate key features and ergonomics from the PS5’s DualSense to help future proof the peripherals. That likely means it will make use of haptic feedback and adaptive triggers, which would certainly go a long way in the immersion department.  

While the headset is a long ways out, The Washington Post reports that PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan development kits are being sent out to developers soon. However, the company isn’t ready to talk hardware specs just yet. 

Ghost 'n Goblins: Resurrection is a game that time forgot, designed to transport players to the heyday of the Super Nintendo where visual beauty meets gameplay brutality, dazzling and pummeling in equal parts. The stack of corpses Resurrection piled up during my playthrough made me swear like a sailor, and yet I walked away singing its praises as one of the best throwbacks I’ve ever played.

Hot off the heels of a canned remake of Goldeneye 007 getting leaked online comes another abandoned Rare project back from the digital graveyard. This time it’s Dinosaur Planet, an unreleased N64 game that eventually turned into Star Fox Adventures for GameCube. Although it’s not the first time fans have seen footage of the lost game in action, a group of video game preservationists have made it available to play. 

Update: Activision has announced that Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 is coming to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and Switch. You can learn more here.

Original Story – February 22 @ 5:53 p.m. Central:

Last year, fans of the beloved Tony Hawk's Pro Skater franchise finally had their prayers answers as developer Vicarious Visions released Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. The title brought the first two games forward with modernized visuals, new features, and a huge skater roster to become the first well-received Tony Hawk's Pro Skater game in more than a decade.

Now, various prominent Twitter accounts seem to be teasing a possible Switch version of the well-liked, remade skating titles. It all started about 45 minutes ago when the man himself, Tony Hawk, tweeted, "Just heard #Crash4 is coming to new platforms and I'm kinda jealous. Hey @CrashBandicoot can you hook @TonyHawkGame up?"

There are numerous Dark Souls mods out there, whether you're looking for a curated new world, randomized encounters and loot drops that could have you facing off with multiple end-game bosses in just a few minutes, and more. Yesterday, Grimrukh and Meomaritus released a 18-minute preview of the upcoming Dark Souls: Nightfall, which you can watch below. In a nutshell, this mod includes new story, new combat system, new world, and a lot more.

As is the case with most projects like this, there is no affiliation with Bandai Namco or From Software. You can see significant shifts from the standard Dark Souls opener in just moments of this demo, which offers quite a bit of insight into how things could end up coming together.

Baldur's Gate 3 is still in Early Access (now with Druids) but that hasn't stopped fans from absolutely falling in love with Larian Studios' take on the Dungeons & Dragons-related tale. For those that have played the Early Access title, you're already familiar with the hauntingly beautiful Down by the River song heard in the game but one Baldur's Gate 3 cosplayer took that appreciation to an incredible level by covering it herself in full costume. 

Her name is Alina Gingertail and she has a ton of videos like the one below on her channel, including The Elder Scrolls franchise, The Witcher, and so many more. Her talent is nothing short of amazing, and I think I've watched this video probably close to 20 times now and still get chills: 

Pokémon is celebrating 25 glorious years and in my search of literally any reason to justify talking more about this franchise, I came across the cutest not-so-little phone charger I've ever seen. With this Pokémon phone charger, a criminally adorable Pichu will juice up that mobile device in the most precious way possible: with their squishable little cheeks! 

This creative take on phone charging comes courtesy of artist Nendo Yoshirin. The Pichu phone charging station is made out of clay and comes with a MagSafe charger in its right cheek. It's honestly so cute and I can't stop staring at it, especially since it looks like Pichu is literally cuddling with it. The world sucks in a lot of ways, but cuteness like this? It helps.

2万いいねありがとうございます‼️

みんな大喜びです！ pic.twitter.com/zkHmGgwGOI

We see a lot of "gender bends" of our favorite characters and the Slayer from the Doom franchise is no exception. With the help of skins, we've even made the killer of demons a unicorn, a return to his classic form, and even a purple...uh, pony. With the weird variety of different looks for our badass protagonist, having a female-facing Slayer wouldn't be much of a stretch. According to the director of Doom Eternal, Hugo Martin, that creative direction has crossed the team's minds. So why haven't we seen it yet? The answer is more thoughtful than you might think. 

The revelation of a possible female Slayer came by way of a recent stream where Martin talked a little bit about the different directions they've considered taking Doomguy and what a Slayer is like in this universe. To him, if this were to happen they would want it to be more than a skin, instead choosing to bring in a female Slayer into the storyline. According to the director, "I've thought about it, actually. I think if we did it, I'd want it to be lethal. I think it's interesting how it would impact the glory kills, the kind of weapons that she would have, the fighting style—certainly all aggression, absolutely, but a different type of aggression. I would really strive to allow it to impact the gameplay in a way that was meaningful. I've definitely put a lot of thought into that."

Some of the rarest Pokémon encounters you can have in the games revolve around shiny versions of the iconic Pocket Monsters. In the Pokémon Trading Card Game, that rule carries over. However, every so often, the TCG introduces an expansion that makes them just a tad more obtainable. We recently saw some shiny monsters appear in the Pokémon Sun & Moon – Shining Legends expansion, and now we're seeing that emphasis return in the latest Pokémon Trading Card Game expansion, Shining Fates.

This new expansion brings more than 190 new cards, with more than 100 shiny Pokémon, and more than 30 Pokémon V and Pokémon VMAX cards. We were sent the Elite Trainer Box from the Pokémon Sword & Shield – Shining Fates expansion, as well as a couple of other booster-centric collections. While many of the cards I pulled were from Gen 1 and Gen 8, the rest of the generational distribution was pretty even. You can see the coolest, most interesting, and best cards I was lucky enough to pull from this expansion in the gallery below.

Click image thumbnails to view larger version

Riot Games has been putting some real work into earning that 's' at the end of Games and that streak continues with a new MMORPG set in the League of Legends universe. That being said, delivering a game of this scale is going to take a pretty big team. For those interested in game development, Riot Games is hiring for a plethora of roles for anyone looking to help bring Runeterra to life. 

The news of the MMORPG was confirmed via Twitter back in 2020 when Riot's Greg Street announced that he was working on a new MMO for the League of Legends universe. "I have news," he began. "My recent job has been to help develop the League universe, which we're going to need. Because it is time. My new job is to kick off a big (some might say massive) game that many of you, and many Rioters, have been asking to create." When asked if this was a not-so-subtle confirmation that this new project is an MMO, he responded, saying "It is an MMO." 

It is an MMO

Sony confirmed a Twisted Metal TV series back in May of 2019, but since then news has been mum. Luckily, that's changed, because more details have arrived, including who is behind the latest adaptation and what fans can expect. 

The upcoming Twisted Metal TV show will be a live-action adaptation under the umbrella of Sony Pictures Television and PlayStation Productions. The series will focus heavily on the chaotic vehicular combat seen in the PlayStation staple, bringing the total destruction that has reined supreme since 1995 a new medium to take over. 

Variety reports that the upcoming show will be an action-comedy series that will be based on the original game. The writers behind the Deadpool movies are also involved with Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese taking point.

“Twisted Metal is one of the most beloved franchises from PlayStation,” said Asad Qizilbash, head of PlayStation Productions, in a statement about the new show. “We are thrilled to have such a great team working on bringing this iconic game to life for the fans.”

Valheim is a stunning survival game that perfectly balances mechanics that the genre is known for with a beautifully soothing soundtrack and art direction that makes it easy to get lost in. With a massive focus on building and creating, there are a few mods out there to make it a little more creatively-focused, like Minecraft, for those interested! If that's you, here are some of the best Valheim mods that we recommend. 

Before recommending what mods to pick from, a quick disclaimer: there is an option to toggle on PvP, though it's not as scary as it may sound to someone who detests PvP. In order to activate this, you need to go out of your way to actually choose it, so if you are looking for a player vs. player experience, we recommend doing so without any mod assistance.

Whenever I think of Fall Guys, I usually say to myself “you know, this game could use a lot more Cuphead.” That’s not true at all, but for the handful of you that have begged for a crossover between the two games, you’ll be happy to hear that outfits inspired by Studio MDHR’s hit platformer are arriving in Fall Guys this week.

Soon, you can adorn your jellybean in costumes designed after Cuphead and his pal Mugman. Cuphead arrives in the game on February 24 while Mugman joins February 27. Each costume comes with their own emote. Those emotes, as well as each costume piece, costs five crowns each. Cuphead serves as the latest game to appear in Fall Guys following crossovers with Doom, Untitled Goose Game, and Sonic the Hedgehog, among others. 

The myriad troubles following the bumpy launch of Cyberpunk 2077 have made CD Projekt Red a target for anonymous hackers. Earlier this month, an “unidentified actor” bypassed the developer’s firewalls and gained access to the source codes for Cyberpunk 2077, The Witcher 3 (and an alleged version of The Witcher 3 that was never  released), and Gwent: The Witcher Card Game. After refusing to meet the hacker’s demands, the aforementioned source codes were ultimately sold. Recently, Gwent’s source code has been found online and CD Projekt Red is taking swift action. 

Watch Dogs: Legion may have launched last October, but the fight to liberate London rages on in its upcoming online mode. Ubisoft plans to launch Watch Dogs: Legion Online on March 9 and expands the game’s sandbox to allow players to work together to hack machines, fight Albion soldiers, or just goof around and cause wanton chaos. I spent a few hours roaming the mean streets of London with a squad to see what the mode has to offer.

Get ready to catch 'em all (again) because Black Milk Clothing is teaming up with the Pokémon Company once more for a brand new clothing line to celebrate the franchise's 25th anniversary!

Black Milk Clothing is a brand that is no stranger to collaborating with some of the biggest video games out there, including Animal Crossing, Mass Effect, Cyberpunk 2077, and more. This company has also offered a previous Pokémon line as well, but the Pokémon 2.0 lineup promises to be even better: 

Pokémon 2.0 is coming to BlackMilk!

~ https://t.co/uTD0GZN1ZK

Get ready, the collection drops at 7am AEST Tues 2 March.@Pokemon #Pokemon25 #blackmilkclothing pic.twitter.com/vKbbZSZFKU

BioWare is celebrating the coming release of the Mass Effect Legendary Edition with a brand-new Garrus Vakarian statue, now available to pre-order. Everyone needs an (arch)angel on their shoulder during these trying times, so why not have the best shot in the galaxy by your side? 

More affordable than expected, the new Garrus statue is available now to pre-order for $95.00. If you're a fan of the Turian (which, who wouldn't be), then you're going to want to act fast because this bad boy is limited to 3,000 units worldwide and will be selling out quickly if the previous Garrus statue sales are anything to go by. 

Made from polyresin, this Garrus tribute comes in at 6 inches tall, each collectible being individually numbered for the more hardcore collectors out there. There is also the prototype version as well for those that want to have all possible editions, or for those that enjoy a new painting project: 

Click image thumbnails to view larger version

Rainbow Six Siege: Crimson Heist is the upcoming season that’s kickstarting the game’s sixth year. Alongside the arrival of this update comes a brand new attacker named Flores, an Argentinian operator who commands a remote-controlled explosive drone called the RCE-Rotero Charge. This new gadget is armed with a 10-second fuse timer or can be remotely detonated to destroy enemy gadgets or counter defensive utility. On top of the game’s new attacker, Crimson Heist introduces an all-new secondary gadget called the Gonne-6. This pistol has the capability to breach soft walls and can destroy bullet-proof equipment; however, players will have to make their shot count because the Gonne-6 can only fire one bullet. 

With the arrival of Rainbow Six Siege Year 6 comes Border, a fan-favorite map that has been completely reworked. While the level has received several subtle changes like a reduced number of soft walls and entries, the most significant change comes in the form of an interior balcony that connects the break room to the East staircase. Additionally, the Border rework includes a new exterior staircase and an extension to the map's bathroom that now connects it to the teller's office.

Fortnite has been embracing crossover character skins for ages now, and two big names are about to join the cast! More information is dropping tomorrow evening at 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time via official Epic channels, but for now we've got a spiffy new reveal trailer showcasing Ryu and Chun-Li from the Street Fighter franchise. After Master Chief, Kratos, and many others have entered the Fortnite universe as skins, this is hardly surprising, but it's always great to see additional faces from other games come into the universe! Check out their debut trailer above!

Ryu's penchant for Hadoukens and Chun-Li's furious flurry of kicks have been staples of the fighting game scene from when we would gather around the one arcade unit in the Walmart mini-arcades and stack quarters on the side of the machine, eager to dragon punch and kick our enemies into oblivion while the crane game chirped noisily in the background. While those days can never return, we can now play as some of our favorite Street Fighters in Fortnite. At this point, I don't think any crossover could surprise me, with myriad names and faces joining Epic's free-to-play foray on a regular basis.

While the recent news that Overwatch 2 isn't expected to launch this year hit just a bit ago, BlizzConline gave players a peek behind the scenes to development and more. In a long presentation that you can check out online, key figures behind the game walk players through a smattering of updates, including two new maps that are featured in the sequel. Ready to head to Rome and New York? The Overwatch vision of New York is particularly compelling, so I recommend checking out the full presentation at blizzcon.com

The co-op, player vs environment fare has gotten touched up quite a bit since we last saw it at Blizzcon 2019. Remember that? It was pretty fun, but they're really going through and taking a pass on the co-op play, highlighting variance in enemies, objectives, and talent trees. Not only do the maps draw from different faction pools to make sure you are battling against different and interesting threats each time, but you can tackle them with an awesome arsenal as well.

Remember when it was announced that Vicarious Visions was headed over to the Blizzard side of things? Well, this is what they're working on! At BlizzCon today, Diablo II: Resurrected was announced, and it's coming this year. While this is big news by itself, the game is also coming to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC. Diablo II: Resurrected includes controller support (On PC as well!) and features cross-platform progression. Whoa!

I had plenty of qualms with Warcraft III: Reforged and its new art choices, but what we've seen from Diablo II: Resurrected is incredibly reassuring. From the BlizzCon showing, the visuals look absolutely fantastic. Don't like the new graphics? No problem, you can play with the old look using a quick toggle. Diablo II: Resurrected can handle 4K resolution, features 3D physically-based rendering, new animations, lighting, textures, and effects. All of the cinematics have also been remade, shot-for-shot.

Diablo IV isn't expected to launch this year, but BlizzCon gave Blizzard a chance to showcase some new elements for the upcoming ARPG. The major reveal is definitely the Rogue class. That's right, we're going all the way back to the original Diablo for the inspiration for this one. If you're a fan of Diablo II's Assassin or Diablo III's Demon Hunter, don't despair, as you can build out this dexterity archetype a number of ways. Want to zip around from foe to foe and stab them with imbued daggers enchanted with poison, cold, or other enchanted elements? You can!

Want to pick up a bow and rain arrows down on enemies? That's an option! Of course, I bet many Diablo II enthusiasts are interested in the trap builds of yesteryear, where tossing down dangerous devices to destroy your opponents was the name of the game. You can do that, too.

"One of the things that that going this route lets us do part of the appeal of this dexterity class is being able to be the the marksman fantasy," says game director Luis Barriga. "The idea of the fantasy of the Diablo Rogue as being this unrivaled marksman (except me for maybe the Amazon later) that can just be the master of the bow and adaptable in a situation."

Hearthstone is shaping up to have a big year, with classic format, a revamped core set, expansions, and more. One of the biggest highlights is a new game mode known as Mercenaries. Like other Hearthstone "modes" like the auto-chess style Battlegrounds and the build-your-deck-as-you-go Duels, Mercenaries is a completely new game inside Hearthstone. Mercenaries is a roguelike strategy RPG where you'll form a group of iconic Warcraft characters, equip them with gear, and travel across maps full of enemies. Oh, and there's a PVP mode for the game too!

You can add characters like Gruul, Sylvanas, Thrall, and more to your crew.  The characters level up, unlocking new abilities and skills as you gain experience. There's no mana in this mode. Instead, abilities are cooldown based.

Hearthstone: Mercenaries is coming this year, a new game mode (Really, more of a new game entirely) being added to Hearthstone. In Hearthstone: Mercenaries, players assemble teams of legendary characters from the Warcraft universe and play through a strategy RPG with roguelike elements. Along the way, you'll clear maps, level up your crew, find and equip loot, and more! Today we're going to look at a few of the characters inside Mercenaries, but first, here's our exclusive reveal for one of the characters coming to the mode – Shadow Hunter Vol’Jin.

The Hearthstone team is being fairly secretive about the exact stat loadouts and how those look, but what we do know is that he is "a powerful caster with access to shadow magic", along with these three parts of artwork that show how Vol'Jin progresses as he levels up and evolves through Mercenaries. At each evolution tier, your characters gain spikes in power and new abilities! Fans of World of Warcraft will know Vol'Jin well, as he's been a major character for some time in the MMORPG.

Hearthstone's next expansion, Forged in the Barrens, is lined up to kick off the Year of the Gryphon for the digital collectible card game. As part of a themed block, the expansions this year follow a sort of World of Warcraft progression pattern as players will begin the journey in the low-level (but still very iconic!) Barrens zone and then take travel to other areas later in their journey as the year goes on. The Barrens is a zone known for two things – lively chat and Mankrik's wife. While thankfully the Barrens chat experience isn't coming to Hearthstone, Mankrik's wife is!

Alongside some signature Barrens fun like raptors and quillboars, the set includes some new features to shake Hearthstone up. Some cards include the new Frenzy mechanic, which triggers when the unit takes damage and survives. Some units really get psyched up from taking damage, so you can bet that little one damage effects to start revving your troops up are going to be part of new strategies.

The first major World of Warcraft: Shadowlands patch is coming, and it's packed with all kinds of big updates. Chains of Domination takes players deep inside the Maw with a foothold to lay siege upon the forces of darkness, adds flying to Shadowlands, and adds two huge endgame dungeon experiences to the mix alongside a smattering of other upgrades for Covenants, soulbinds, and more.

The first expansion for World of Warcraft, The Burning Crusade, launched back in 2007. Now, it's coming back as part of World of Warcraft Classic in 2021. Have no fear, if your Classic character wants to stay in pure Classic lands, that's an option. However, you can also bring your character over to a new "progression classic" experience with The Burning Crusade. As with Classic before it, a subscription to modern World of Warcraft functions as your ticket to World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade.

"What we've definitely noticed over the last two years during Classic is that everybody is excited. Everybody really wants to come back and see more content. They really enjoy experiencing the stuff that they experienced before, and they're ready for the next chapter," says lead software engineer Brian Birmingham. "When can we have it, we really want to go to Burning Crusade? Okay, well that makes the choice clear. Just Just like Classic was a love letter to our fans who really wanted it, Burning Crusade is a love letter saying like you guys asked for this, we want to deliver."

Of note, players will be able to create and begin leveling their Blood Elves or Draenei prior to the The Burning Crusade Classic's launch. The Burning Crusade is my favorite expansion in World of Warcraft, featuring some of the best raids ever. If you didn't get to head into Karazhan when it first arrived, now's your chance to experience the haunted halls with a few friends.

Ever wanted to go back and play some of those really, really early Blizzard games like The Lost Vikings, Rock n' Roll Racing, or Blackthorne? Well, today you can, and on console too! The Blizzard Arcade Collection is available today on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC. The collection features both original versions of the classic titles and definitive editions that add some tweaks and enhancements. The definitive editions all come with game specific perks, but custom key-mapping and 10-second rewind are available on all the titles.

The Lost Vikings is an ancient puzzler where you use three different Vikings and their unique skills to get through various areas and challenges. With Erik the Swift, Olaf the Stout, and Baelog the Fierce, players must use their brains to maneuver through a variety of situations. The definitive edition features three-player local co-op, extra stages and additional cutscenes.

Rock n' Roll Racing lets players get metal on a wild racetrack filled with hazards. The definitive edition lets up to four players compete in local multiplayer, allows for 384 racetrack variations, and includes new songs and voiceover clips. If you missed this one many, many years ago, it's a rocking ride.

For fans of Overwatch, Diablo, World of Warcraft, and more, BlizzCon represents a special time of year. It's a time where people can come together through cosplay, competition, and celebration to revel in what makes these games so special. While this BlizzCon (aka Blizzconline) is anything but familiar due to the ongoing pandemic and digital format of the event, taking one look at the online schedule should have fans excited for the next two days.

Part of the fun will hopefully come from the team behind Overwatch. It's been quite some time since we've seen the sequel to one of the best multiplayer games on the planet. Late last year though, Jeff Kaplan gave us a small update on the game, letting us know that the team at Blizzard is hard at work on Overwatch 2. Given that there is a Behind the Scenes of Overwatch 2 event happening after the opening ceremony, I'd be willing to bet fans will finally get an update from our lord and savior Kaplan and team.

But the hero shooter isn't the only game people want to hear from. Will we finally learn more about Diablo IV? What does the team behind World of Warcraft have in store? The answers to those questions and more will hopefully be revealed later today.

With the Super Mario event in Animal Crossing: New Horizons and tons more content throughout the year, fans of the adorable simulator series have a lot to enjoy. For those looking for even more ways to celebrate the Nintendo franchise, Viz Media has announced the Animal Crossing: New Horizons manga that will be coming to the West, fully translated. 

The Animal Crossing: New Horizons manga is officially getting an English translation, expected to drop on September 14. The first entry, titled Deserted Island Diary, will launch on that day, with more volumes to come later. The story will bring back familiar faces from the beloved IP to see what life is like for the villagers surviving life on a deserted island. 

Announcement: Animal Crossing: New Horizons-Deserted Island Diary, a new manga series featuring your favorite villagers, debuts Fall 2021. 🍃 pic.twitter.com/wo5CXHR5xn

— VIZ (@VIZMedia) February 19, 2021

This manga is not new for fans in Japan. The first of two series launched back in February of last year as part of Ciao Magazine. For hardcore lovers of all things Animal Crossing, previous manga adaptations for the earlier games are also available both from Wild World and New Leaf. 

Join the Game Informer crew as they play the popular Half-Life 2 mod, Minerva: Metastasis. Additionally, the team will be exploring a few interesting survival horror experiences on Steam, like Night of the Consumers, Home, and Last of Ass. Yup, you read that right.

Minerva: Metastasis tasks you with surviving on a remote Combine island while also attempting to unravel the mystery housed deep within. You'll just have to tune in and see what the other games have in store.

Join Andrew Reiner, Ben Reeves, Marcus Stewart, and Alex Van Aken as they survive the Combine and delve into more fun horror experiences from the Steam library.

We'll be kicking off the show today at 2:30 p.m. CT, so be sure to join us in the chat and end your week on a high note! If you can't get enough of our live shows, remember to subscribe on YouTube, Twitch, Twitter, and Facebook to get notified when we go live each week!

With Destiny 2: Beyond Light's Season of the Chosen officially kicked off, Guardians are taking to the Battlegrounds and completing Exotic quests as if the alliance with the Cabal depends on it (it does). That being said, some players noticed a reference set within the in-game challenges that harkened back to a slogan used by Nazi Germany. The likeness sparked a larger conversation on social media, and Bungie immediately apologized for the unintentional similarity regarding the Cabal and real-world history. 

It began with a new set of weekly challenges for Season of the Chosen. One of the challenges was called "Blood and Honor." Given the aesthetic nature of the Cabal, a name like Blood and Honor seems pretty standard for more fantasy-driven fictional stories. It didn't take long, however, before some players noticed that the this phrase in German is "Blut and Ehre," which was a slogan infamously worn by the Hitler Youth. 

Hideo Kojima is one of the most high-profile individual developers in the game industry. With major successes to his credit like Death Stranding and the entire Metal Gear series, it makes sense that people are interested in his creative process and what inspires him. In fact, he already wrote a book on the topic, which was called The Gifted Gene and my Lovable Memes when it originally released. But since this collection of essays was written in Japanese, many of Kojima's fans around the world had to miss out on his insights ... but that will be changing soon.

Today, Viz Media announced that it will publish Kojima's book in English later this year. It will be retitled The Creative Gene, and is scheduled to release in the fall. You can see the reveal (which came alongside news of an Animal Crossing manga) below: 

That initial reveal is light on details, but Polygon dives deeper with the book's official synopsis, which reads:

If you've ever played any version of Persona 5, chances are you've thought about how delicious Sojiro Sakura's curry and coffee sounds. I know I've felt that way, so when Atlus sent along a promotional package for Persona 5 Strikers, which included a recipe card for curry inspired by the owner of Café Leblanc's specialty dish, I knew I had to try making it for myself.

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Back in August 2020, Fortnite was pulled from the iOS App Store (and later from Google Play as well) in a feud between Epic Games and Apple over user agreement terms. The entire legal battle became messy quickly and resulted in a #FreeFortnite campaign done in the style of George Orwell's 1984. As the legal fight continues between the two tech giants, Apple has decided to throw Valve into the mix by serving up a subpoena back in November 2020 (as revealed in a new court filing that was publicly released). The PC company didn't take that lightly and fought back with a variety of points against the subpoena, namely that it has absolutely zero to do with Fortnite. 

Valheim is everywhere right now. If you've been paying attention to gaming at all in the last few weeks, you've probably seen something about this unique Norse survival game. Valheim has been climbing the charts since its Early Access launch this month, and now developer Iron Gate Studio and publisher Coffee Stain have provided some impressive sales numbers to quantify the game's success.

According to an official press release, Valheim has now surpassed 3 million copies sold within just 16 days of its initial release. That kind of reception comes not only from the fact that the game is being well-received by players, but also from Valheim's popularity in the streaming realm. It is currently one of the most popular games on Twitch, with fans watching over 20 million total hours. 

These kinds of success stories are always fun to see. Valheim essentially came out of nowhere; it is made by a small team Sweden, and didn’t receive a ton of mainstream coverage prior to its Early Access launch. And yet, the folks at Iron Gate Studio clearly found a setting and a formula that resonates with players and viewers alike, because the game is currently the 78^th best-reviewed game of all time on Steam.