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Overwatch 2: First Impressions - Closed Alpha Test

2 years ago

Overwatch 2’s Beta test is coming up on the 26th and I got to play a couple of hours of Closed Alpha time beforehand. While I didn’t get to play any PvE modes, I did get to experience how the new 5v5 PvP matches feel. There are quite a few hero changes and new maps coming with Overwatch 2 and while the Closed Alpha was very limited in what I could play, I got the general feel for how Overwatch 2 would play out in the PvP mode and got to try the new game mode: Push. Here are my impressions after participating in the Closed Alpha test.

First, Overwatch 2 does look absolutely gorgeous. The environments are clean and sharp and the hero looks are updated and refreshed. Opening Overwatch 2 felt like opening Overwatch at launch for the first time but with better graphics and performance. The new maps looked vibrant and lively which was a nice change of map lineups after having the same ones in Overwatch for so long. There’s also a new ping system that allows you to point out specific enemies alongside the callout system in Overwatch 1. The ping system is pretty intuitive and lets you communicate more accurately with your team, which I always argue modern day FPS games need at least a basic ping system since it’s really just a quality of life adjustment.

Author
Stella Chung

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No Return, a New Psychological Horror, Coming Fall 2022

2 years ago

A new psychological horror game, No Return is coming on October 30, 2022… and it looks to be trying to pick up where P.T. left off.

The debut game from Chinese studio BlameTech follows in the footsteps of Silent Hills teaser, P.T. in that it’s about a man caught in an infinitely looping version of his own home. There are never-ending corridors, but with lashings of Chinese folklore, and mysteries to solve.

Check out the trailer below:

The game, set in modern-day China, sees a man returning to his home and becoming stuck in a never-ending loop that reflects a mysterious family tragedy. “No Return tells a story of a broken home,” says the official description. “As one recollects memory fragments, not all memories are welcoming. Just like tearing a band-aid repeatedly on an open wound, you cannot avert your eyes from this cruel and painful experience.”

Clearly, No Return has borrowed a few tricks from other successful horror franchises. The unnerving video static is reminiscent of The Ring, with missing persons posters plastered down the hallways setting an ominous scene. Soon enough, the ever-shifting layout of your once-familiar home sets an eerie tone, with jump scares and creepiness abound. Something is clearly very wrong here. It’s up to you to find out what.

Author
Ryan Leston

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A Fallout Fan Turned His Limited Edition Mini Nuke into a $200 Gaming PC

2 years ago

A fan of the post-apocalyptic RPG series Fallout recently shared a new PC he built with an atomic twist: the case was made out of the plastic mini-nuke replica that was included in the Fallout Anthology.

First spotted by PCGamer, The Fallout Collector, an individual known for sharing all things and memorabilia related to the RPG series, told IGN that the build is not incredibly powerful. It uses parts from a small form factor sixth-generation Intel NUC, which has been repurposed for a bomb-shaped rig that sports an i3 CPU and integrated Intel 520 graphics.

As you can see from the picture below, The Fallout Collector modified the insert of the mini-nuke to mount the motherboard. Those that own this collectible know the inside is used to store all the discs included in the Fallout Anthology. The Fallout Collector told us that he did not have any issues fitting parts into the build and that the total cost only setting him back about $200.

Author
Taylor Lyles

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Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series Coming To PlayStation, Xbox, PC, and Switch This July

2 years ago

Bandai Namco has announced that Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series will launch on July 8 globally for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S. This will happen alongside the previously announced Nintendo Switch launch.

This series collection, will launches a day earlier on July 7 in Japan, includes remastered versions of Klonoa: Door to Phantomile and Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil. There are also new features in this collection as well, such as easy and normal difficulty settings, and a hard mode that unlocks after clearing the game. Two player co-op is also available, as well as a challenging new Stopwatch mode.

Author
George Yang

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LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga Had the Best LEGO Game Launch in History

2 years ago

LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga had the best LEGO game launch in history.

Publisher Warner Bros. Games revealed in a press release that the game has sold through 3.2 million copies in its first two weeks and surpassed sales records worldwide.

"The game has sold through 3.2 million units globally in its first two weeks and has exceeded sales records across every platform, region, and edition," said the publisher.

Breaking the franchise record means The Skywalker Saga's launch outperformed other titan entertainment franchises that have also had the LEGO treatment including Marvel, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and more.

The game was first revealed at E3 2019 and experienced delay after delay before launching earlier this month on April 5.

Author
Ryan Dinsdale

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Outriders Worldslayer Preview: Worth Returning to Enoch?

2 years ago

If you enjoyed tossing fireballs and teleporting around like a ninja in Outriders last year, then do I have some great news: developer People Can Fly is giving you just about every reason to return with its upcoming expansion, Worldslayer. Imperfect as it was, Outriders largely hit all the right notes with me when it launched, but some of that momentum was lost amid the utterly tragic server issues right out the gate and a story that largely fell flat. With Worldslayer, Outriders seems poised for a comeback, and if what I’ve played of it so far is any indication, this 2.0 upgrade to the memorable looter shooter might be just what the doctor ordered.

Worldslayer seems laser focused on making everything about Outriders bigger. New areas of Enoch have opened up, which allowed me to traverse a whole new set of biomes and slay some unique monsters in the process. New weapons and armor have been added for some hot, new firefight freshness. Most exciting of all, some new endgame progression options have been added for those who want to dive deep into build-crafting and play long after the campaign is done and dusted.

Author
Ryan McCaffrey

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Halo Infinite Dev Reveals 3 New Modes Coming in Season 2

2 years ago

Halo Infinite developer 343 Industries has revealed three new modes coming in Season 2: Lone Wolves.

These are headlined by the classic Halo mode King of the Hill, which arrives on May 3 alongside two brand new modes: Last Spartan Standing and Land Grab.

King of the Hill dates back to the original Halo game in 2001 and, while players can recreate the original mode in Custom Games, the standard mode is returning to Infinite with a twist.

Instead of just having one part of the battleground that players fight over, a new hill will spawn when the previous one is captured. Whoever takes the hill by spending uncontested time on it earns a point, and the team with the most points at the end of the match wins.

The Lone Wolves themed Last Spartan Standing is less complicated, with 343 Industries simply describing the objective with one word: survive. The free-for-all mode sees 12 players spawn on Big Team Battle maps with a confined loadout and just five respawns that mean game over when they're gone. The match ends when only one player is left.

The Escalation Slayer mechanic from previous Halo games returns in Last Spartan Standing, similar to Gun Game from Call of Duty, where getting a kill grants the player a better weapon.

Author
Ryan Dinsdale

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The House of the Dead: Remake is Coming to PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Stadia

2 years ago

Forever Entertainment announced today that The House of the Dead: Remake is heading to PC (Steam & GOG), PS4, Xbox One, and Google Stadia on April 28 — 21 days after the game was released exclusively on Nintendo Switch.

Based on the 1996 arcade on-rails shooter, The House of the Dead: Remake has players assuming the role of AMS agents Thomas Rogan and G as they traverse across a mansion filled with zombies and other infected creatures.

The game was announced back in 2021 during the Nintendo Indie Showcase. It was slated to launch sometime in 2021 but was quietly delayed to 2022, with the publisher announcing in March that it would release on April 7.

The announcement of additional platforms comes as no surprise. Panzer Dragoon: Remake, which Forever Entertainment also published, launched first on Nintendo Switch back in March of 2020, before releasing on PC, PS4, Amazon Luna, and Xbox One by the end of that year.

Author
Taylor Lyles

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Evil Dead: The Game - The Final Preview

2 years ago

Ash Williams and the rest of the Evil Dead gang haven’t been resurrected to star in a video game since 2005’s Evil Dead: Regeneration, but that’s all about to change when S-Mart’s top of the line returns on, fittingly, Friday the 13th next month, in the aptly-named Evil Dead: The Game. After playing it, it’s clear that the new Evil Dead game draws heavily from the survival-focused shooting and looting established in the Left 4 Dead series in addition to the character-centric, skill-based horror survival of Dead By Daylight. This monster mashup certainly nails the right beats for frenetic fun between friends, and at launch, Evil Dead: The Game will support out-of-the-box crossplay for all modern Xbox and PlayStation consoles, as well as the Epic Games Store.

Each skirmish in Evil Dead: The Game only lasts about 20 to 30 minutes, and it concludes when the party secures and defends the map’s Necronomicon after clearing a series of objectives, like fending off the Dark Ones with your very own Kandarian Dagger. If you have no clue what any of that means, that’s perfectly fine; Evil Dead: The Game does a great job explaining what everything is via its comprehensive tooltips. A single map can sling the party from point of interest to point of interest before the clock lapses to zero – but don’t let the user-friendly UI convince you to let your guard down; there are more than just a few twists on this dark road.

Author
Ryan McCaffrey

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Torchlight: Infinite Enters Its Latest Closed Beta

2 years ago

Torchlight: Infinite is the latest entry in the ARPG Torchlight franchise coming to PC, iOS, and Android. This title, a sequel to Torchlight 2, enters its latest closed beta on April 24th, 2022, and brings with it a slew of new content for fans to experience.

Jump into the Era of ember Tech in this Cinematic Trailer from the initial reveal.

Players can sign up now using their Gmail account or pre-register on TapTap to participate in the latest closed beta, which will be open to mobile players all across the world!

While the closed beta access so far has only been available for mobile players, the full game will feature cross-play and cross-save across all platforms, including the in-development PC version!

Torchlight Infinite transports players to the era of Ember Tech, 200 years after the incidents of Torchlight 2. Humanity has embraced Ember as the primary power source for everything from technology, to the arcane. However, with prosperity also comes opportunity, and the evil powers behind the scenes have seized this chance to spread corruption and chaos. In response, a group of mighty warriors known as Torchlight has risen to save the world from darkness and become humanity’s last hope.

Author
JMBurge$$

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Gravitar: Recharged Is Atari's Next Crack at a Retro Reimagining

2 years ago

Atari is continuing its endeavor to revitalize a number of its arcade classics, this time with the reimagining of space exploration game Gravitar in Gravitar: Recharged.

Gravitar: Recharged is a remake of the original 1982 Gravitar, an arcade title that took the "rotate-and-thrust" controls from games like Asteroids and applied them to control of a tiny spacecraft exploring a solar system. Players navigate to a planet, and then must destroy bunkers on said planet while being fired upon and fighting against the pull of gravity. In its time, Gravitar was notorious for its extreme difficulty.

This remake joins a number of other games in the Recharged series that Atari has been using to bring back its arcade classics, including Breakout, Asteroids, Centipede, and Missile Command. This version includes 24 missions, and allows for cooperative play as well.

Gravitar: Recharged is planned for release in May of this year on Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and S, Atari VCS, and PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store. The news follows closely after Atari unveiled its first original game in years, Kombinera, as the retro company pushes for revitalization of its brand in the modern era.

Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.

Author
Rebekah Valentine

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Elden Ring's Malenia Battle Is Bugged and It's Terrifying

2 years ago

One of Elden Ring's toughest bosses, Malenia, Blade of Miquella, is now automatically self-healing when players summon help.

While healing herself is one of Malenia's normal abilities, she is only meant to do so when her attacks hit the player. A bug in Elden Ring's latest update, however, seemingly means she can self-heal at any point of the fight and for no apparent reason.

Elden Ring's leading Malenia expert Let Me Solo Her spotted the bug when he was summoned to fight the boss.

His YouTube video shows it off clearly: even when there are no players near Malenia, never mind taking damage from her, chunks of her health bar shoot back up.

Other players have noticed it too, with reddit user Demonboy995 saying that it happened every time he was summoned to help fight Malenia.

It's unclear what's triggering the healing but users have hypothesised that, as it only occurs in multiplayer, lag is essentially causing Malenia to register hits that aren't registered by the players.

Author
Ryan Dinsdale

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Kao the Kangaroo Preview: Hands-On With a Comfy Platformer

2 years ago

Kao the Kangaroo left me nostalgic for a series I’d never heard of. I’m always searching for new platformers, I’ve gone through all the big names across the years and many smaller ones too, but if you’d asked me last month who Kao was, I couldn’t have told you. Like many mascots, Kao fell into obscurity but thanks to Tate Multimedia’s surprise reboot, he’s back in fighting form with a fresh story. Going hands-on with a preview build, it’s pretty easy but so far, I’m enjoying what I’ve seen.

Kao’s journey kicks off with a familiar premise, rescuing family members who disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Both his sister and father are missing, while an unknown foe called the Eternal Warrior’s begun corrupting the world with a dark power. Nothing that’d be amiss in a Saturday morning cartoon. Starting off on Hopalloo Island, a land that’s basically Australia, this preview had me explore two worlds, including the more tropical Hungry Jungle. Both locations serve as hubs filled with collectibles, unlocking new levels once you’ve found enough runes.

Author
Ryan McCaffrey

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Lost Ark Is the Latest Game To Get a Battle Pass

2 years ago

Lost Ark's rumoured Battle Pass is now official and already available.

Amazon Games confirmed in a blog post that the Ark Pass would be included in the action-RPG as part of the April update that released today.

The Battle Pass works in the same way as Fortnite's or Call of Duty's: players will progress through levels for different rewards by simply playing the game or, in some cases, completing specific objectives.

The regular Ark Pass is free and grants several rewards across 30 levels including a mount, pirate coins, and honing material selection chests.

Two other versions of the pass are available at an additional cost. The Premium Ark Pass costs 1,500 Royal Crystals and adds extra rewards at each level including a Vertus Pet, rapport chests, and gems.

The Super Premium Ark Pass costs 3,000 Royal Crystals and includes all previous rewards plus selection chests for the Noble Banquet skin collection, a matching wallpaper, and some legendary rapport chests.

Royal Crystals are available in set packs: 1,000 for $9.99, 2,200 for $19.99, and 5,750 for $49.99.

Also in today's Lost Ark update is the new Martial Artist advanced class, the Glaivier, which uses a short spear in the Flurry stance and a glaive in the Focus stance. Players are encouraged to use both modes as different abilities activate when swapping between stances.

Author
Ryan Dinsdale

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Mutant Football League 2 Announced With More Mutants, Modes, and Mess on the Field

2 years ago

Mutant Football League, not to be confused with Mutant League Football, is getting a sequel.

IGN can exclusively reveal that Digital Dreams is currently working on a follow-up to its 2017 reimagining of EA's 1993 cult football classic. Mutant Football League 2 will feature more mutants, more game modes, upgraded visuals and online play, custom teams, an improved Dynasty Supreme franchise mode, and new shifts to gameplay such as changing weather during matches and the addition of an eighth player to the field.

Digital Dreams is making Mutant Football League 2 for Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PS4, PS5, and PC. Additionally, Digital Dreams' development team is largely based in Kyiv, Ukraine. Due to the ongoing invasion of Russia, Digital Dreams is unable to pinpoint when Mutant Football League 2 will be able to release.

Digital Dreams is joining a number of other games companies across the industry in fundraising to help the citizens of Ukraine by selling Mutant Football League T-shirts, with all proceeds going to World Central Kitchen. IGN has rounded up a number of other ways to help here.

Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.

Author
Rebekah Valentine

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Overwatch 2: Two Heroes Are Getting Major Reworks for the Beta

2 years ago

Overwatch's Doomfist and Orisa are both receiving major reworks in Overwatch 2.

While all 32 original Overwatch characters are returning for the sequel, Blizzard announced two further reworks (joining Bastion and Sombra) in a blog post, revealing that Doomfist has even had a role change.

He'll switch from being a damage hero to a tank, losing his Uppercut ability in the process. Instead, Doomfist is now equipped with Power Block, a shielding ability that protects from frontal attacks, and his health has increased from 250 to 450.

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Blocking heavy damage with the shield will power up his Rocket Punch ability, which will travel faster and further and deal increased damage when empowered.

Author
Ryan Dinsdale

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Daily Deals: Lego Star Wars The Skywalker Saga Now Down to £36

2 years ago

LEGO Star Wars The Skywalker Saga is back in stock and now down to just £36 with a Tesco Clubcard. It was discounted to £38 near launch day, but now you can pick it up for even cheaper.

Other deals today include £300 cashback on new LG OLED TVs, New Pokemon Snap for £30, Switch Joy-Cons for £52, and Switch (Grey) for £225, and select users can currently get up to £14 for free at Amazon when using new rewards.

TL;DR - Our Favourite UK Deals Right Now

LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga Down to £36 at Tesco

Nintendo Switch for £225 at Amazon (was £259)

Get an Extra £14 for Free at Amazon: Top Up £50, Use Amazon Pickup

This deal is perfect for those who use Amazon to order items quite often, or even better for those who want to make a bigger purchase and fancy a little bit extra off the top. This is for select accounts only, so check out your free Amazon rewards here. You can also get an extra £7 off if you use an Amazon Pickup location at the moment.

Author
Robert Anderson

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Moon Knight Skins Have Arrived in Fortnite

2 years ago

Moon Knight has become the latest pop-culture character to arrive in Fortnite.

Epic Games announced his inclusion in a blog post detailing the two new skin variations, Back Bling, and pickaxe, available for 2,000 V-Bucks altogether.

The skins come in one single purchase that can be switched back and forward at the player's leisure, choosing between Moon Knight in his full superhero attire or Mr. Knight and his fancy three-piece suit.

Fortnite%20adds%20Moon%20Knight%20with%20two%20variations%2C%20a%20cape%2C%20and%20Crescent%20Darts%20pickaxe%20(Image%3A%20Epic%20Games)

Also included with the skin is the Cloak Back Bling, as "Moon Knight is seldom seen without his cape", the blog post said.

His Crescent Darts weapons are also available as a pickaxe but these are a separate purchase. Moon Knight himself costs 1,500 V-Bucks, while the Crescent Darts cost 500. V-Bucks are available in bundles of 1,000 ($7.99 / £6.49) or 2,800 ($19.99 / £15.99).

Fortnite continues to add many characters from every major franchise franchise (and everything in general ever) to its hit Battle Royale game.

Author
Ryan Dinsdale

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Quake Gets New Accessibility Options and Maps 26 Years After Launch

2 years ago

An update for Quake has added new accessibility options and maps 26 years after it was first released.

As revealed on the Steam announcements page, Quake now lets players change its menu style to a plain black and white format instead of just having stylised letters appear over the game.

Other sight-focused features include adjustable screen flash intensity, on-screen message duration times, an increase in the maximum number of messages appearing on the HUD, and adjustable display durations of multiplayer text messages.

The update also brings a chat-to-voice converter to Quake. Players can now turn incoming multiplayer text chat into a synthesized voice, or convert incoming voice chat to text. The opposite is also possible, as messages the player sends can also be converted into a voice, with multiple styles available.

Outside of the new accessibility options, three horde maps have been added to Quake alongside several balance adjustments to the mode, including improvements to bot AI.

The PC classic, still making headlines despite being more than a quarter of a century old, will naturally be a core feature of QuakeCon. Organisers announced last week that the yearly celebration of id Software games like Quake and Doom would be a digital event again this year.

Author
Ryan Dinsdale

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Nicolas Cage Reveals Why He Turned Down Lord of the Rings and Matrix Roles

2 years ago

Imagine, if you will, a world in which Nicolas Cage had played Aragorn or Neo. That could very well have been our reality, had the actor not firmly had his priorities in order. He is one of the most recognizable leading men in Hollywood… and the face of some of the most memorable memes on the internet.

But, before all that, Cage is a father and a family man.

"First and foremost... there's no version of Nic Cage in reality that doesn't want to spend time with his children," Cage told People.

"There's no version of Nic Cage that didn't put family first over career. I turned down Lord of the Rings and I turned down Matrix because I didn't want to go to New Zealand for three years or Australia for three years because I needed to be home with my son Weston, that's a fact."

Cage has two sons, Weston, 31, and Kal-El, 16. The actor and his wife Riko Shibata are expecting a baby later this year.

Cage went on to describe his acting ethos, and how he tries to never take himself too seriously.

Author
Kat Bailey

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Overwatch 2: Blizzard Devs 'Upset And Annoyed' By Delays

2 years ago

On November 1, 2019, Blizzard revealed Overwatch 2 at that year’s Blizzcon. After almost three years, the highly-anticipated sequel will finally be receiving a beta next week. Recently, developers behind the game have expressed their displeasure with its lengthy development.

In an interview with USA Today, lead hero designer Geoff Goodman detailed how the team had a plan in place for the development of Overwatch 2.

“We talked about it, way back,” he said. “We talked about how we were going to, on the production side, develop Overwatch 2 alongside Overwatch.”

Unfortunately, this plan was derailed by the game’s many delays.

“I think the whole team was kind of upset and annoyed a bit with the timing of how everything got delayed. Goodman added, “There were a lot of reasons for it, it wasn’t just one thing.”

According to the interview, these delays came from production costs.

“It is a pretty constant topic for everything in the game, actually, production costs,” Goodman said. "I mean, Blizzard is not really a studio that is shackled to dates but that doesn’t mean we’re completely free from all concerns of production costs and time.”

Author
Kat Bailey

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PSVR2 vs Meta Quest 2: Does PlayStation Have a Chance?

2 years ago

Earlier today, Meta hosted its second annual Meta Quest Gaming Showcase, featuring a variety of announcements including a brand-new Ghostbusters VR game. The showcase sparked a spirited discussion within IGN about the Meta Quest 2’s comparative dominance of the VR market, where it currently enjoys a roughly 78 percent market share, and whether Sony’s PlayStation VR2 can be successful in such an environment.

First announced back in February 2021, the PSVR2 will reportedly focus on “console-quality” VR games for PS5 via hybrid games that can be played both with and without VR. Sony officially unveiled the new tech at CES along with its new Sense Controllers, with Sony confirming that it will feature a high-res OLED display, a controller-tracking IR camera, and four cameras in the headset itself. Horizon Call of the Mountain, which is being developed by Guerilla Games and Firesprite, is an “ambitious AAA narrative adventure” that seems to be a template for what Sony is trying to achieve on the platform, though we don’t know a full extent of the library, nor even if it will be backward compatible, just yet.

When the PSVR2 is eventually released, it will be an interesting test of whether AAA VR can draw a mainstream audience. It will also draw inevitable comparisons to Meta’s standalone headset. But can the PSVR2 succeed on its own merits? And are those comparisons even fair? Here’s what we think.

Author
Kat Bailey

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Saints Row Customization Will Let You Be a Gun-toting Furry With Nothing But An Eggplant Decal For Modesty

2 years ago

After previously claiming that the upcoming Saints Row reboot would feature the "biggest customization suite" of any game in the series to date, Volition is setting out to prove that it's as good as its word with a brand new trailer.

Shown earlier today, the new Saints Row customization trailer showcases a host of options, from cars and guns to the new headquarters, which is housed in a ramshackle church. Even deeper are the character options, which go as far as to feature selectable "modesty options" for your character's genitals and chest area.

Some of the options include:

  • Asymmetrical face customization.
  • Cross-gender clothing items including skirts, pants, shoes, hats, underwear, overwear, and socks.
  • The ability to customize the type, texture, tint, and gloss of teeth and skin, including muscle and vein definition. It will be possible for your character to look like everything from a furry to a vampire.
  • A variety of prosthetics such as artificial legs.
  • Guns that can have individual parts customized with a variety of skins and decals. You can also put an RPG in a guitar case.
  • Extensive vehicle customization across more than 80 cars, including the ability to modify paint, exotic pieces and parts, engine, wheels, and grime.
  • A multi-story house that grows alongside your criminal empire, with details including a multitude of statues.

The new trailer follows earlier assertions that Saints Row will allow you to be a "stone-cold killer or a fantastic looking freakshow." Volition has also confirmed that layered clothing will be returning and that it will be possible to select eight different voices for the Boss — four female and four male.

Author
Kat Bailey

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Dwayne Johnson Will Executive Produce the It Takes Two Movie for Amazon

2 years ago

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson will now produce the It Takes Two movie adaptation.

Variety reported that Johnson is set to join Dany Garcia and Hiram Garcia to produce the project on behalf of Seven Bucks Productions for Amazon Studios and dj2 Entertainment.

The Sonic the Hedgehog movie writers Pat Casey and Josh Miller are also on board as executive producers as well as Josef Fares and Oskar Wolontis of Hazelight Studios, the studio behind the It Takes Two game.

According to the report, it’s also possible that Johnson will star in the movie, though the cast hasn’t been finalized yet.

It Takes Two is a two-player platformer that places players in the shoes of May and Cody, a couple in the middle of a divorce. After being turned into dolls, May and Cody are forced to traverse their now oversized surroundings in an effort to return to their bodies.

We gave It Takes Two a 9/10, praising it for its imaginative environment and satisfying co-op gameplay elements. It Takes Two also became quite the winner this awards season, receiving the Game of the Year award at The Game Awards 2021 and the Multiplayer Game award at the BAFTA Awards 2022.

Author
Amelia Zollner

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Bungie Confirms Destiny 2 Contains Easter Egg Teasing Its Next Game

2 years ago

If you're excited for whatever Bungie is working on next, there's a hint to the studio's next project hidden somewhere within Destiny 2. When former Destiny 2 director Christopher Barrett was asked on Twitter (via GamesRadar) if there was a hint to Bungie's new IP somewhere in their massive first-person shooter, Barrett simply responded, "Yes".

Barrett followed up his short response with another one-word tweet, saying "Maybe", along with a smiley face that looks like the moon. This led some Destiny fans to believe the hint is hidden somewhere on Earth's Moon from Destiny 2's Shadowkeep expansion. Even with the hint, the Destiny community hasn't found the easter egg just yet. So, if you're a Destiny 2 fan, it might be time to start searching the Moon!

Barrett is currently the director on an unannounced Bungie game after leaving the Destiny 2 director's chair in 2018. Joe Blackburn is the current director on Destiny 2.

This isn't the first time Bungie has hidden an easter egg for its next project in a game. Halo 3: ODST, released in 2009, included a poster saying "Destiny Awaits." The teaser has since been removed.

Author
Logan Plant

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Shadowrun Trilogy Is Finally Headed To Consoles

2 years ago

Paradox Interactive announced its plans to release a remastered version of the Shadowrun Trilogy. The series, which takes place in a distinct world that mixes fantasy and cyberpunk themes, will be arriving on Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5 on June 21, 2022.

The Shadowrun Trilogy will include the original Shadowrun Returns, which was the first Kickstarter-funded game to launch after raising over $1 million. In addition, it will feature the expanded editions of sequels Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director’s Cut and Shadowrun: Hong Kong - Extended Edition.

The Shadowrun series of tactical turn-based RPGs hasn’t seen a new installment since 2015, when Paradox Interactive released Hong Kong, so its arrival on consoles will be paired with technical improvements including “upscaled graphics, improved performance, and controller-optimized gameplay,” as said by Paradox Interactive in a press release.

The Shadowrun Trilogy was originally only announced for the Nintendo Switch, so this announcement marks its addition to other next-gen consoles.

Author
Amelia Zollner

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Ghostbusters VR Announced For Meta Quest 2

2 years ago

In a surprise announcement at the end of today's Meta Quest Gaming Showcase 2022, Meta announced today that a new VR game set in the Ghostbusters Universe is currently in development.

Set in San Francisco, Ghostbusters VR has players running their own ghost-busting busting business as they unravel paranormal mysteries. According to the press release, the upcoming title will serve as a "new chapter in the Ghostbusters universe" and not be based on previous adaptations of the IP.

While you can fight off the supernatural yourself, Ghostbusters VR will also provide the option to team up with friends with up to three players joining in as you venture through the game's campaign and save Fan Francisco from ghosts.

Ghostbusters VR will allow players to fend off ghosts with iconic equipment known from the franchise. This includes the proton pack, the tool ghostbusters primarily use to capture ghosts. nDreams, the developers behind Phantom: Covert Ops and Far Cry VR: Dive Into Insanity, have been tasked with developing Ghostbusters VR while Sony Pictures VR will serve as the game’s publisher.

Ghostbusters VR currently does not have a release date, though Meta promised to share more information on the game in the coming months. However, Oculus executive producer Ruth Bram mentioned earlier in the stream today that the games highlighted during the event were slated to come out within the next year.

Author
Taylor Lyles

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Meta Quest Gaming Showcase 2022: Everything Announced Including Ghostbusters VR

2 years ago

The second annual Meta Quest Gaming Showcase has arrived and it shared some of the biggest and most exciting experiences headed to the Meta Quest platform throughout the next year.

From Resident Evil 4 - The Mercenaries to NFL PRO ERA to Among Us VR to Ghostbusters VR, there was something for everyone in presentation. To help ensure you don't miss a thing, we've gathered all the announcements from the Meta Quest Gaming Showcase below.

Ghostbusters VR Announced

A new Ghostbusters VR game was announced for Meta Quest 2 from Sony Pictures Virtual Reality and nGames. While we didn't see much more besides a short cinematic trailer, it's great to know that we will soon be experiencing the beloved franchise in a new way.

Players will run their very own "Ghostbusters HQ in a new city, San Francisco, and solve a deep mystery across a new chapter in the Ghostbusters universe."

It also supports four-player co-op, so one question remains - who you gonna call?

Resident Evil 4 - The Mercenaries VR Is Out Today and Brings the Fan-Favorite Mode to Meta Quest 2

When Resident Evil 4 launched on VR in 2021, it did so without the fan-favorite horde mode The Mercenaries. As of today, that problem is resolved as the mode is available as a free update to all players who own the base game.

Author
Adam Bankhurst

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PlayStation Wants Ads In Its Games, Too

2 years ago

After last week's report that Xbox is looking to include more advertisements in free-to-play games, it seems PlayStation is also testing the waters for its own advertisement program.

According to Advertising Insider, Sony wants to encourage developers to create free-to-play games by adding this new way to monetize them beyond microtransactions and battle passes. Similar to what we know about Xbox's program, the goal for Sony is for the ads to fit in with the rest of the game, like putting real-life ads on billboards in virtual sports stadiums. Sony is also looking into rewarding players for watching ads and promotions with in-game items, including avatar skins.

While we already know Microsoft isn't planning to take a cut of the revenue, Sony is still deciding if it will take a share. As for what companies Sony will partner with, one source in the report said Sony has a strict vetting process for selecting ad partners, ruling out any company that collects personal information like email addresses and names. Sony's program is supposed to launch by the end of this year.

There are some concerns about the program, namely how companies will be able to track gamers and their purchasing habits after seeing the ad in-game. And, some advertisers may want to avoid promiting their product in games with violent content.

Xbox is reportedly planning to launch its advertising program by the third quarter of 2022. It could include ads showing up as rendered billboards in racing games, for example. The profits will be shared between the game developer and ad company.

Author
Logan Plant

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Resident Evil 4 VR's The Mercenaries Mode is Available Today

2 years ago

We already knew Armature planned to add The Mercenaries Mode into Resident Evil 4 VR – today, Quest 2 players with a copy of the game can now access the mode as a free update.

The Mercenaries is an arcade-style mini-game that debuted as an additional mode in Resident Evil 3. Players are tasked with killing waves of enemies and obtaining the highest score possible before the timer runs out. RE4 VR, when it initially launched, was the only version of Resident Evil 4 not to include the additional mode.

Like the base game before it, The Mercenaries mode has been rebuilt from the ground up to accommodate virtual reality. Along with the inclusion of the highly-requested game mode, Resident Evil 4 VR's major update rolls out new content as part of the new Mercenaries mode.

This includes an online leaderboard and a new Challenges mode, which consists of a variety of different scenarios, each ramping up the difficulty. Depending on how you perform in the Challenges mode, you can unlock new bonus items and weapons, such as a Big Head Mode, new outfits, and Chicago Typewriter, a gun that was noticeably missing from the VR version at launch.

Author
Taylor Lyles

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Moss: Book II is Coming to Meta Quest 2 This Summer

2 years ago

As part of the Meta Quest Games Showcase today, Polyarc has announced that Moss: Book II will launch on the Quest 2 VR headset this summer.

Moss: Book II launched less than a month ago exclusively on PlayStation VR and is a sequel to the critically-acclaimed 2018 title, Moss. In Book II, players again control Quill as she deals with a winged tyrant hunting her in the hexed castle.

News of Moss: Book II coming to Meta's flagship headset is no surprise. Last month, Polyarc co-founder and art director Chris Alderson told Upload VR that it was looking to bring Moss: Book II to other platforms "as soon as possible."

Like its predecessor, Moss: Book II has been met with critical acclaim. Our review noted that the sequel builds upon its predecessor nicely, praising the in-game world and entertaining platforming, though the game running on Sony's aging PSVR headset is listed as a drawback.

Taylor is the Associate Tech Editor at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.

Author
Taylor Lyles

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Among Us VR Looks Like VRChat Meets a Slasher Film

2 years ago

After being teased at The Game Awards last December, we've finally gotten a first look at gameplay for the VR version of Among Us as part of today's Meta Quest Games Showcase. Just as you might imagine, the gameplay looks like a VRChat meets a slasher movie.

Throughout the trailer, crewmates are flailing their arms, using virtual hands to point fingers at people they assume are imposters. We even get a brief moment of someone in Electrical peeking a corner looking to see if anyone is there, before cutting to an imposter hiding in a vent.

Although Among Us is alreadya fun game, the VR version should provide a fresh perspective that leans into the game's best parts while also adding a new sense of tension and humor that can otherwise not be achieved on the console and PC versions.

Similar to the non-VR versions, Among Us VR will allow you to play with up to ten players. You assume the role of either a crewmate or an imposter, with the former looking to complete all the tasks around the map, while the latter tries to kill all the crewmates without being detected.

Initially released in 2018, Among Us blew up in popularity at the start of the decade after content creators began streaming the game in 2020 amid the COVID-19 lockdowns. Following the game's spike in popularity, the developers decided to cancel a sequel and focus on continuing post-launch support for the original.

Author
Taylor Lyles

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NFL Pro Era Will Be the First Officially Licensed VR Football Game

2 years ago

As part of the Meta Quest Games Showcase today, StatusPRO has officially announced its first fully licensed NFL football simulation game made for virtual reality headsets.

NFL Pro Era will have players assume the role of quarterback for their NFL team, as you compete in drills and face off against other teams in the league for a chance to play in the Super Bowl. The brief trailer gives us a glimpse at some of the things you will get to do, such as throwing passes, performing a QB scramble, and picking a play from your wristband playbook to name a few.

StatusPRO, the developer behind the game, is a sports technology company whose augmented and virtual reality products are already used by teams in the National Football League today.

According to the developer, NFL Pro Era will combine "innovative technology, data, and direct insights from athletes to unlock a unique opportunity for fans and immerse themselves in the NFL Metaverse." Furthermore, the company and the NFL both said previously that the NFL Pro Era would complement the current NFL experiences on the market, most notably, EA's Madden NFL series, in addition to a non-sim NFL football game currently in development by 2K.

NFL Pro Era is slated to launch this fall on Meta Quest and the PlayStation VR.

Author
Taylor Lyles

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Digimon Survive Finally Gets a Release Date, Coming July

2 years ago

Digimon Survive finally has a release date, with the new strategy RPG confirmed to be launching on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC this summer.

Producer Kazumasa Habu revealed the date in a tweet, with a release this summer marking four years since the game was revealed, and three since it was originally meant to be launched. Published by Bandai Namco, Survive breaks the formula of previous Digimon games by blending the visual novel and turn-based, strategy RPG genres.

The game will place emphasis on storytelling in what's promised to be an anime-esque campaign featuring unique characters with plenty of drama that unfolds across branching storylines. While on a school trip, protagonist Takuma Momozuka is randomly transported to a mysterious world full of monsters, and it's up to the player to help him get home.

Author
Ryan Dinsdale

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The Top 10 Wii U Games

2 years ago

The Wii U probably won’t feature among the pantheon of Nintendo’s revered consoles, but this weird, middle step between console and handheld still has a collection of wonderful games.

While many games have been already ported to Switch, there are still at least 10 very good reasons for picking up a Wii U today, including these games that either haven’t made it to other Nintendo systems or were wonderful enough to still be worth playing now. Here is our list of the Top 10 Wii U Games.

A quick note: in addition to games already ported to the Switch, we won’t be covering Wii games or Virtual Console games in this list, too, as those would be separate lists entirely. Only games made for the Wii U meet the criteria. Now let’s jump in!

10. Affordable Space Adventures

Affordable Space Adventures would deserve its place on this list solely for using the Wii U GamePad (and Miiverse) better than Nintendo ever did. Wonderfully, this oft-forgotten sidescrolling action-puzzler, which places you inside the worst-performing spacecraft you've ever seen, would be a delight even without those hardware innovations.

The brilliance at the heart of all this is that you don't need to just act as a pilot for your ship but as an engineer too, using your GamePad cockpit controls to micromanage which engines you're using, how much sound you're emitting, and much, much more – capturing the energy of those scenes in Star Trek where the Captain screams down to the engine room for more power. Couple that with a brilliant, dark ending, and you have a true hidden gem.

Author
Adam Bankhurst

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Old Skies: How Wadjet Eye Wants to Reinvent the Point 'n' Click, Again

2 years ago

Dave Gilbert isn’t a huge fan of the “retro throwback” tag his games have been slapped with for the last 16 years. His studio, Wadjet Eye (The Blackwell Legacy, Gemini Rue), may trade in the point ’n’ click adventure space, but his own games tend to stubbornly refuse to stick to the conventions of the ’80s and ’90s games they resemble. His latest, Old Skies, is yet more proof that Gilbert’s games are forward-thinking, not backward-looking.

Sitting down with Gilbert at London’s WASD games convention, I’m quickly shown how. Old Skies adopts a similar structure to Gilbert’s last game, the fantastic Unavowed, showing its characters’ journeys across six self-contained episodes. But where that last game innovated by investing more in branching, BioWare-like dialogue paths than classic puzzling, Gilbert’s early-in-development new game is a whole new experiment.

At Old Skies’ heart is a narrative conceit, woven throughout the game’s mechanics, plot, and even visuals: In the future, time travel is real, but it’s used essentially just for tourism. The game’s lead character, Fia, takes paying customers on trips through time, allowing them to visit periods they could never have experienced, or revisit treasured moments in their lives. Things go wrong very quickly, as things tend to in time travel narratives, and Fia is left to solve problems and paradoxes through a mixture of deduction and sci-fi tech.

Author
Joe Skrebels

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Sonic Origins: Fans Aren't Happy With Locked-Off DLC Content

2 years ago

Sonic Origins' release date and editions were announced earlier today and fans aren't happy with the amount of locked-off DLC, including the game's 'Hard Missions', camera controls on elements of the main menu, and character animations while playing music.

The remastered collection of Sonics 1, 2, 3, and CD has announced 8 pieces of content not included in the standard edition, and spread across a number of different editions and DLC packs..

According to the Sonic Origins website, hard missions, mirror mode being unlocked, and even certain animations and music are all locked behind DLC packs from launch.

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Not even the most expensive Digital Deluxe Edition automatically comes with everything, as fans will also need to preorder the collection in order to tick off every piece of DLC.

Author
Ryan Dinsdale

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Kim Kardashian Threatened to Sue Roblox Over a Fake Sex Tape Game

2 years ago

Kim Kardashian threatened to sue Roblox after a game claiming to offer an unreleased sex tape appeared on the platform.

Roblox, a gaming platform with countless player-made games, featured one that used Kardashian's face as clickbait while claiming to have unseen footage of a sex tape featuring the star.

On the latest episode of The Kardashians, as reported by Polygon, Kardashian's six-year-old son Saint saw the advertisement and showed it to his mother, who later said "I have all the time, all the money, and all the resources to burn them all to the f**king ground."

"I have all the time, all the money, and all the resources to burn them all to the f**king ground."

Roblox has since banned the developer of the game and denied its platform ever featured the sex tape.

A spokesperson said: "The referenced video was never available on our platform. We have strict moderation and policies to protect our community, including zero tolerance for sexual content of any kind which violates our community rules.

"The text reference to the tape that got around our filters was quickly taken down and fortunately visible only to an extremely small number of people on the platform. We also swiftly took down the associated experience and banned the community developer involved with the incident."

Author
Ryan Dinsdale

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TMNT: Shredder's Revenge Gets Release Window, New Gameplay

2 years ago

Developer Tribute Games and publisher Dotemu have announced that TMNT: Shredder's Revenge, the upcoming spiritual successor to the classic late-'80s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade game and NES port, will be released this Summer for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PC, and Nintendo Switch. They have also confirmed that the voices actors who played the Turtles in the classic 1987 animated TV series will return for this game. Furthermore, Dotemu has confirmed that a physical release will be made available alongside the usual digital marketplaces and that a digital soundtrack will be on offer too. And to top it all off, we have 10 minutes of new gameplay to show off, consisting of the first two stages. See that video above.

TMNT: Shredder's Revenge was announced just over a year ago. It isn't a direct sequel to the legendary four-player co-op arcade game (nor its beloved NES port), but it's being made as if it would've come out then, complete with its pixel-art graphics. And when it releases this Summer, you'll hear the familiar voices of Cam Clarke (Leonardo), Townsend Coleman (Michelangelo), Barry Gordon (Donatello), and Rob Paulsen (Raphael).

Author
Ryan McCaffrey

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Sonic Origins Release Date Announced

2 years ago

Sonic retro remaster collection, Sonic Origins will be released on Sonic’s birthday, June 23, 2022.

Sonic Origins is a collection of several 2D Sonic games released on the Genesis including Sonic The Hedgehog 1, 2, Sonic 3 & Knuckles, and Sonic CD. All of these games will be digitally remastered for current platforms.

Along with the release date, Sega announced that Sonic Origins will be released on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC starting at $39.99. Pre-orders will go live starting tomorrow.

A pre-order bonus will net players 100 Medallion Bonus, Mirror Mode Unlocked, and Letter Box visuals, and a more expensive Digital Deluxe Edition for $44.99 will also add Difficult Missions, Letter Box, Characters in Main Menu, Island Camera on Main Menu, Character Animation in Music Playback, and Exclusive Tracks from the Mega Drive Sonic games.

The original Sonic games are 2D side-scrolling platformers where players speed their way towards the end of each level. These games are where players first met Sonic as he blasted through locations like Green Hill Zone and the Chemical Plant.

Sonic Origins will be a good way for fans and newcomers to experience the early days of Sonic, but for folks looking towards the future, Sega is currently developing an open-world Sonic game titled Sonic Frontiers.

Author
Matt Kim

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