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Universal Studios Japan opened the official website of the upcoming Super Nintendo World.

The sites provides an in-depth look at the attractions available in the park, that will open on Thursday, February 4.

As an added bonus, an English version is available, including a decription of what you can expect from all the attractions and shops included in Super Nintenedo World.

If you want to see more, you can take a look at a recent Nintendo Direct in which Shigeru Miyamoto himself introduced the park. You can also watch a trailer from a few weeks ago.

Super Nintendo World was announced all the way back in 2016 and was supposed to open in time for the 2020 Olympics. Unfortunately, the COVID pandemic hindered Nintendo and Universal Studios Japan’s plans causing a considerable delay.

That being said, you could say that they’re still making that deadline, considering that the Tokyo Olympic games have also been delayed to the summer of 2021.

Universal Studios Japan is located in Osaka, the capital city of the Japanese region of Kansai. It can be reached from Tokyo via plane, train, and overnight buses are pretty popular since they’re cheaper (but a grueling experience, at least for me).

Kadokawa Games took to Twitter to provide more information about its plans for 2021.

The developer mentioned that it plans to finally complete the mysterious sci-fi strategy JRPG code-named Project Stella in 2021, and release it.

We also hear the confirmation that they plan to reveal other games and release them this year if possible.

Alongside the announcement we also get new artwork for the game.

This comes after the tease that mentioned that the studio behind God Wars has three titles in development including new ones and remasters. Project Stella is likely one of them.

Microsoft Flight Simulator is a young platform, so developers are continuing to find impressive ways to break new ground.

Aerosoft is preparing to release Brussels Airport (EBBR) and developer Jo Erlend posted a small but very interesting preview on the publisher’s forum.

You can see what I mean below.

At first sight, it may seem difficult to understand exactly what you’re looking at, but this is very impressive.

First of all, we see that the visual dock guidance system has been at least modeled. While we don’t see it in action, it does show an animated display.

Normally, the VDGS isn’t even modeled in Microsoft Flight Simulator add-ons, but this is certainly a step forward. It’ll be interesting to see if Aerosoft will manage to actually make it functional.

Perhaps equally impressive is what we see behind the VDGS and beyond the iconic curved glass of Brussels’ terminal. We can see that the people inside are actually subtly animated, providing a much more dynamic environment compared to what is in most airports nowadays.

At the moment, Brussels’ Airport doesn’t have a release date just yet. It has been pretty much a meme among the community with the first tease for previous simulators dating all the way back to 2013.

Microsoft revealed several games coming to the Xbox Game Pass catalog for PC, console, and Android through the first half of January.

Coming later this week on Thursday, Jan. 7 are Konami’s soccer game eFootball PES 2021 Season Update for Android and console, DC Universe fighting game Injustice 2 available on all three platforms, and adventure game taking place in 1950s Ireland The Little Acre for Android and console.

Another four games will be coming next week on Thursday, Jan. 14. Deck-building, action, and rogue-lite game Neoverse, 2017 adventure game What Remains of Edith Finch, and JRPG-styled game set in 1999 YIIK: A Postmodern RPG will be available on PC. Action RPG and dungeon crawler Torchlight III will also be available on Android and console.

Microsoft also announced four games will be leaving Xbox Game Pass on Friday, Jan 15 with real-time strategy game FTL: Faster Than Light on PC, Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet and Tekken 7 on console, and shoot ’em up My Friend Pedro for both PC and console.

The company is still offering a discount on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for new subscribers at $1 for the first three months. The service includes Xbox Live Gold, Game Pass for console, and Game Pass for PC at a price of $14.99 per month.

Call of Duty: Black Ops – Cold War’s Season One update and its combining with Warzone was advertised as an “unprecedented free content drop.” In terms of the number of actual changes, I guess that’s correct, but the battle royale’s current state suggests that those changes have only seen it take a step backwards.

The combining of progression systems is a great idea, allowing anyone who plays both Cold War and Warzone to work towards unlock goals, no matter what they’re playing. It’s a streamlining of the system that’s very welcome.

That’s pretty much where the positives end and bring me on to the big controversy in Warzone right now: the Cold War weapons’ affect on the battle royale’s meta.

Warzone’s not a stranger to balance issues. The Bruen, Grau, and Fire Shotguns have all been horribly overpowered since the game’s launch, but the balance has never been worse than it is now.

Between the rapid fire MAC-10, almost insta-kill dual Diamatti pistols, and two hit kill DMR, you’re pigeon-holed into a select few weapons if you want to have any chance of winning.

There’s no point using any of the other assault rifles or SMGs because you’ll lose if you come up against someone with the DMR. Just take a quick look at the video below to see how devastating it is.

The popular deck-building roguelike, Slay the Spire, will be getting a board game adaptation later this year. Launching on Kickstarter sometime this spring, the game is being made by Contention Games, who are known for their own card-based board game, Imperium: The Contention.

Concept art for the game’s box can be seen on Contention Games’ website, along with the following game description:

“Slay the Spire is a cooperative deckbuilding adventure. Craft a unique deck, encounter bizarre creatures, discover relics of immense power, and finally become strong enough to Slay the Spire!”

Minecraft Earth will be no more as of June 30 this year, Mojang Studios has announced today. The developer cites stay-at-home measures amid the current COVID-19 pandemic as a primary cause for the decision.

From June 30, all development on the game will cease and it will no longer be available to download.

A blog post over on the game’s official website today reads in part:

“Minecraft Earth was designed around free movement and collaborative play – two things that have become near impossible in the current global situation. As a result, we have made the difficult decision to re-allocate our resources to other areas that provide value to the Minecraft community and to end support for Minecraft Earth in June 2021.”

One final update is set to launch today, which makes the following changes:

• Removing real-money transactions
• Drastically reducing ruby costs
• Including all completed, unreleased content currently in our pipeline
• Reducing time requirements for crafting and smelting
• Replacing unused crafting & smelting boosts with radius boosts of the same level
• Granting a set of Character Creator items to players who sign in between January 5 and June 30 

For those who have invested money into Minecraft Earth’s in-game economy will be granted Minecoins to use on the Minecraft Marketplace to purchase skin and texture packs, maps, and even minigames. And if you don’t own Minecraft, don’t worry — you’ll receive a free copy of the game’s Bedrock Edition as well.

Figure manufacturer Ringtoys isn’t new to working with Koei Tecmo, and it just revealed a new one dedicated to the popular souls-like JRPG Nioh.

The figure portrays Tachibana Ginchiyo from the original game in all her glory, and you can check out what she would like in the tweet below.

At the moment, no further details about the figure have been revealed, including pricing and release window.

If you’re unfamiliar with Nioh, it’s currently available for PS4 and PC, and it’s coming to PS5 later this year alongside its sequel, Nioh 2.

Today the Nintendo Switch version of the remaster of the original game of the Akiba’s Trip franchise was temporarily listed on the website of the Japanese retailer Yodobashi Camera alongside the previously announced PS4 version, titled for the west Akiba’s Trip: Hellbound and Debriefed.

While the listing has been taken down, the remaster for PS4 and Switch, titled for Japan “Akiba’s Trip: First Memory,” left a trail in the form of cover art and images, which you can see below, courtesy of Twitter user れんか.

The popular developers at FlyTampa have released their new airport for Microsoft Flight Simulator and it’s Sydney Kingsford Smith International Airport (YSSY).

The add-on is now available on Orbx Central for about $18. It installs easily and quickly via Orbx’s installer, so you won’t need to deal with folders and copying files around.

That being said, you should uninstall the “handcrafted” airport that came with all editions of Microsoft Flight Simulator to avoid conflicts. All you need to do is to go into your “content manager” menu, search for “YSSY” and remove the package by Asobo.

Sydney Airport is the busiest hub in Australia and one of the busiest in the world, so you know you’re in for all kinds of flight simulation opportunities, from international long-haul to short airliner hops and large general aviation.

Halo (20 Years)

Big Video Game Anniversaries in 2021

The Halo franchise hits a big milestone this year. Halo: Combat Evolved was a launch game for the Xbox in November 2001.

The series would go on to become Microsoft’s biggest exclusive for the Xbox and one of the highest grossing video game franchises of all time.

Today Capcom had a couple of reveals to make about its upcoming Monster Hunter game Monster Hunter Rise.

First of all, we learn about a digital event that will happen later this week on Jan. 7. It’ll be aired at 6 am PST, 9 am EST, 2:00 pm GMT, and 3:00 pm CET.

While its specific content is still under wraps, we do know that it’ll include Monster Hunter Rise news and reveals.

Secondly, we get to see a video revealing the gear you can grind from Bishaten, another of the new monsters coming in Monster Hunter Rise (we saw the gear from Somnacanth yesterday). As usual, it includes armor for your Palico and Palamute buddies on top of variations for male and female hunters.

Bloober Team released a new video showing off the gameplay of its upcoming third-person psychological horror game The Medium.

We get to see 14 minutes of the game, including its striking and seamless passage between the real world and the spirit world, which often appear at the same time on the screen.

You can check it out below and come along for the thrill ride.

The Medium can already be pre-ordered both for Xbox Series X/S and PC via Steam. It’ll release on Jan. 18, 20211.

Nintendo has announced that it plans to acquire Canadian developer Next Level Games, the studio behind titles like Luigi’s Mansion 3 and the soccer-based Super Mario Strikers games on the GameCube and Wii.

The news comes via an official announcement over on the Nintendo Japan website, detailing the big N’s plans to acquire Next Level Games as an official first-party studio. Until now, Next Level Games has been a second-party partner of Nintendo. This means the developer has only released games for Nintendo platforms, but the acquisition will help “facilitate an anticipated improvement in development speed and quality by enabling closer communication and exchange of staff with the Nintendo development team.

Next Level Games’ most recently titles include 2019’s Luigi’s Mansion 3 for the Nintendo Switch, and Metroid Prime: Federation Force on Nintendo’s 3DS. Some of the developer’s other titles include Super Mario Strikers for GameCube, Mario Strikers Charged and Punch-Out!! for Wii, and Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon on the 3DS.

The acquisition is expected to close on March 1, pending satisfaction of all relevant terms and conditions, including stakeholders’ approval, regulatory approval under the Investment Canada Act, and other customary closing conditions, according to the announcement.

We were big fans of Luigi’s Mansion 3 when we reviewed it for the Nintendo Switch, citing its excellent level design, gorgeous presentation and plethora of collectibles as reasons to pick it up, and awarding it a 4/5.

Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout is the most popular game of the Atelier series and Atelier Ryza 2: Lost Legends & the Secret Fairy seems to be poised to surpass its predecessor.

To celebrate the Holidays, we teamed up with Koei Tecmo to bring you a very special giveaway, giving you a chance to win a special package including both games.

You heard it right: the second game of the series will release in the west only at the end of January, but you can already secure your copy for the platform of your choice by winning it here.

Of course, you won’t get it before launch (we aren’t licensed for miracles just yet), so the winner will receive a digital copy of the original Atelier Ryza as soon as the giveaway ends, and a digital copy of Atelier Ryza 2 on release day (in North America on January 26, 2020, and in Europe on Jan. 29).

The way to get involved is really, really easy.

All you have to do is to comment on our articles, everywhere on the site. The more you comment, the better your chances. We want to hear your opinions and insight, and there is no better way for that to happen than sharing your comments with us.

Awesome Games Done Quick, often referred to as AGDQ, is now underway and this week is full of yet another set of exciting speedruns to look forward to. AGDQ 2021 is another online event due to COVID-19 concerns, but that certainly hasn’t stopped the speedruns from being entertaining as ever.

Just today, we got to see Nucular do a speedrun of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim in the glitchless main quest category. While some might prefer seeing a glitched speedrun of Skyrim where the runner just glitches out of bounds and makes a beeline for areas they’re not supposed to access yet to beat the game quicker, this glitchless run has been endlessly entertaining as well.

Pretty much everything that could go wrong in the speedrun does end up going wrong, including poor AI RNG that would force Nucular to spend more time in a combat encounter than necessary, as well as the game straight up freezing and crashing at the most inopportune times.

Even in a glitchless category, there are still plenty of hilarious tricks that serve as a great reminder of how janky the game was, and still is today. Things like getting the horse to speed up steep hills at an angle, or deliberately pushing NPCs around and shouting at them in the middle of a conversation continue to be entertaining even if it does break the immersion for the sake of going fast.

AGDQ 2021 will continue till the end of the week, and you can check out the runs over at their Twitch channel.

Back when NieR: Automata originally released in 2017, fans wasted no time in scouring the game for secrets and other hidden easter eggs. However, game director and creator Yoko Taro made sure to mention that there was still one final secret that had yet to be found. It looks like the search is finally over, though, as that secret has been unearthed.

Modder/dataminer Lance McDonald announced on Twitter that he had found a new secret in the game which allowed him to skip ahead to the very end of the game after beating the first boss.

Do be warned that the rest of this article contains spoilers for NieR: Automata’s true ending, so look away if you don’t want to be spoiled.

If you check out his video below, you’ll see that he was able to skip straight to Ending E, where he could sacrifice his save data immediately after defeating the first boss in the game. McDonald makes sure to mention that this isn’t some glitch or exploit either; it’s an actual cheat built into the game.

Capcom is continuing to showcase more assets of its upcoming Monster Hunter game Monster Hunter Rise.

This time around, we get to see the gear you can make from grinding the Somnacanth, one of the new monsters introduced with the new game.

Not only we see the armor for male and female hunters, but also for the Palico and Palamute buddies.

You can check out the video below.

Monster Hunter Rise will release exclusively for Nintendo Switch on March 26, 2021.

Today the official Star Wars Youtube channel released a launch trailer for Star Wars: The High Republic, which they call “a new era of Star Wars storytelling.” This run of books, comics, and magazines will tell a new story in the Star Wars universe set 200 years before The Phantom Menace. You can check out the new trailer below.

These stories will explore an era that has yet to be seen in the Star Wars universe.

From the launch trailer, we can see that there will be a host of never before seen characters; it also appears that Yoda will be making an appearance. If you would like to read more about the characters, or about the different authors for this ongoing series, you can check out the Star Wars website.

You can also find a list of every High Republic book and comic so far, in case you fall behind on what has been released. The first books will be available tomorrow, with more coming out in the coming weeks up through February.

Today Sega announced another AC Scratch collection for the western servers of its popular MMORPG Phantasy Star Online 2.

While we’re already well past the New Year, the theme of the new collection named “Elegant Beginnings” focuses pretty much on that, with colorful outfits, accessories, and more.

It’ll be available starting on Jan. 5 and it’ll remain online all the way to Feb. 3.

You can check out a trailer below.

Phantasy Star Online 2 is available in the west for Xbox One and PC. A few months ago, we heard that the western version enjoyed a “strong start” and that it passed one million players.

In the meanwhile, Sega recently announced Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis, which will basically be a new game operated in parallel with the original Phantasy Star Online 2.

If you’re into anime and mecha, tabletop game publisher LionWing came bearing news today via press release.

The publisher announced that it intends to localize the popular Japanese tabletop game Embryo Machine by Cosaic.

The localization will be funded via Kickstater, with a campaign that will start in February 2021.

If you’re unfamiliar with the game, it supports from two to six players and it’s played on a modular board with the aid of a dedicated deck of cards.

You can see a few images of the mecha and the localization below, alongside an official description.

Epic Games is set to turn a 980,000 square-foot mall in North Carolina into its global headquarters by 2024. First reported by bizjournals, the publisher has reportedly spent $95 million on the deal with Turnbridge Equities and Denali Properties.

The mall itself, called Cary Towne Center, has long been struggling, with Turnbridge Equities announcing a plan only three months ag to redesign the space into a mix of office, retail and residential spaces. Understandably, local residents in the area apparently have mixed feelings about losing such a community-focused plan to what will essentially be an enormous office complex.

Still, while Epic Games’ new HQ is still in the very early stages of planning, there are apparently plans to include recreational spaces of benefit to the community.

“We plan to commence development of our new headquarters this year with the goal of converting the property into our new campus by 2024,” a spokesperson told bizjournals.

A press release includes a statement from Jason Davis, managing director at Turnbridge Equities, also suggests something similar:

“Epic shares our vision for transforming Cary Towne Center into a vibrant community space. This sale is further validation of our value-driven investment strategy, and the property could not be placed in better hands. After years of shifting development plans for the center, we are thrilled the space will be utilized to its full potential and turned into something the Town and community of Cary can be proud of.”

A few days ago, Sim-Wings and Aerosoft released Munich Airport for Microsoft Flight Simulator, and today they showcased it in a new trailer.

The trailer provides a view of the airport that is certainly more scenic compared to the colder (but certainly rather enthusiastic) look you saw in our review of the add-on.

You can check it out below and see Germany’s second-busiest airport in action.

Publisher THQ Nordic has today announced that its successful remake SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated is coming to iOS and Android as a premium title later this month, Jan. 21, priced at $9.99.

The game is already available now for pre-order on the Apple AppStore and pre-register on Google Play.

The port is to feature revamped touch-screen controls, though it also offers gamepad support for those who prefer a more tactile experience.

You can see a sample of the touch controls overlaid atop a typical gameplay sequence below.

Persona fans rejoice! It’s been revealed that not just one or two, but about a dozen new Persona soundtracks are heading to the music streaming service, Spotify, on Jan. 5 at midnight. And these soundtracks are completely original and aren’t just covers or remixes, like the ones you would find if you were to search for ‘Persona’ on Spotify today.

AniPlaylist shared the Spotify playlist via Twitter that includes all of the music tracks from all of the albums coming this week. It’s not available just yet to listen to, but you can still find it on the streaming site right here so that you’re prepared to groove to all of your favorite Persona bops.

Today, NIS America released a new trailer of the upcoming dungeon-crawling JRPG Strangers of Sword City Revisited.

The trailer showcases the new features that will be added to the original Strangers of Sword City, including three new classes, additional battle elements, expanded character creation, and three new dungeons.

You can check out the trailer below.

The game will launch for Nintendo Switch and PC on March 16, 2021 alongside Saviors of Sapphire Wings, which is set in the same world.

If you’re unfamiliar with the games, you can read an official description directly from Steam.

“Knights, Assemble!: Muster all your might and cunning to confront the forces of the Overlord of Darkness! Assemble your party, develop your own playstyle with traps and tactics, and exploit your enemies’ elemental weaknesses to overcome the most powerful servants of darkness.

Valve already has a reason to celebrate in 2021 after its gaming client Steam broke concurrent user numbers just days into the new year. Over the weekend Steam saw 25,418,674 concurrent users, beating out the previous record 24,776,635 in December.

The figures come from Steam analytics site SteamDB, which has tracked seven new Steam concurrent user number records over the past 12 months.

The uptick is perhaps explained by COVID-19 stay-at-home measures across the globe, with the most recent record also fuelled by a combination of cold winter weather and the holiday season. Prior to the COVID-19 era, Steam’s highest concurrent users were 18.5 million, which was largely attributed to PUBG’s immense popularity at that time.

The past 12 months have actually yielded a number of new records in terms of spending habits from players globally, with companies like SuperData, Sensor Tower, and The NPD Group all reporting record highs across different facets of the industry.

April 2020, for example, saw an unbelievable 73% year-on-year growth for spending on the US video gaming market, hitting a whopping $1.46 billion, which was largely attributed to lockdown measures during COVID-19’s spring peak.

Today 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim developer Vanillaware released its traditional new year art by president and artist George Kamitani.

Many pay particular attention to the art released in this occasion, as it often includes hints to the developer’s plans for new games.

For instance, the artwork released in 2013 pretty much revealed 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim ahead of the official announcement in 2015.

That being said, hints are rarely that explicit, and often none exists (or at least none is found), so we’ll have to wait and see on this.

That being said, the artwork is certainly meaningful in another way as it portrays a creature called Kutabe (or Bai Ze) in Chinese tradition.

According to Japanese folklore, its image has the power to ward off disease. I don’t think I need to explain this one.

Vanillaware has teased a possible new fantasy game to come after 13 Sentinels, and promised to reveal it after the release of the game.

Yet, we’re still waiting to hear more.

In the meanwhile, 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim is currently available exclusively for PS4. We recently learned that it shipped over 300,000 copies.

Ever since the good ol’ Wii days, Nintendo has shoved Miis into lots of things. We have Miis in Mario Kart; there are Miis on the 3DS; Miis exist on the Switch, and we even have Mii fighters in Super Smash Bros. now.

And according to a modder, even the NPCs in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild have been created using an advanced version of the Mii character format. HEYimHeroic on Twitter has even found a way to inject most Mii characters into Breath of the Wild, and they’ve even started to consider taking commissions to help players get their favorite NPCs into the game.

You can see the initial tweet down below from HeyimHEROIC that shows off some of the NPCs that have been made by importing Miis like Barret from Final Fantasy VII, Matt from Wii Sports, and the modder’s personal Mii, Alice.

With just a month to go to the western release on PS4 of Ys IX: Monstrum Nox, NIS America just released a demo.

The demo is available only for PS4 and can be downloaded both on the North American PlayStation Store and on the European one.

It includes two locations from the full game, alongside a chance to experiment with the new mechanics related to the game’s “Monstrum.”

If you’re unfamiliar with Ys IX: Monstrum Nox, it’s the latest chapter of the Ys series, and it was released in Japan only for PS4 in September 2019.

It’ll come to the west with both English and Japanese audio and English and French subtitles for PS4 on February 2 in North America, February 5 in Europe, and February 12 in Oceania.

Nintendo Switch and PC versions, which were never launched in Japan, will be released in the summer of 2021. The demo has not yet been released for Switch and PC.

Here’s how the publisher describes the game.

Renowned adventurer Adol “the Red” Christin and his companion Dogi arrive at Balduq, a city annexed by the Romun Empire, only for Adol to be detained before setting foot inside. While imprisoned, he meets a mysterious woman named Aprilis who turns him into a Monstrum, a being with supernatural Gifts and the power to exorcise monsters. Now, Adol must ally with his fellow Monstrums to fend off the fearsome threats emerging from a shadowy dimension called the Grimwald Nox, as well as unravel the mysteries of the Monstrum curse, and the truth behind the unrest within Balduq.

Cyberpunk 2077 was one of the most highly anticipated video game releases of 2020, and while its myriad bugs and glitches have been all anyone’s been able to talk about since its launch, there are a few other aspects of the game itself that we feel could’ve used some improvement as well. Here are five ways Cyberpunk 2077 could’ve been even better.

To say that not everyone was impressed by CD Projekt Red’s decision to limit Cyberpunk 2077’s perspective to first-person would be a major understatement. When the game was first introduced to the public at E3 2018, a wave of upset rippled across the internet from those who had presumably been expecting to be able to see their character as they had done in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

Unfortunately for them, CD Projekt Red never did end up including a third-person option despite the obvious appetite for it amongst players. But there’s good news this week for those on PC as the game is actually now playable in third-person thanks to the wizardry of a very talented modder.

Well, more or less playable anyway. NexusMod creator saranuba’s “JB – TPP MOD WIP third person” for Cyberpunk 2077 does deliver a third-person perspective, but, as the name suggests, it’s very much a work-in-progress.

There are four different camera options available, from directly behind V to an over-the-shoulder Resident Evil-style, but the animations are pretty stiff, and non-existent in some cases. It also looks particularly wonky when in combat, for example, and don’t even think about trying to swim!

Still, as a first attempt at providing an option to simply check out V’s appearance as you traverse Night City, it’s surprisingly decent.

Presumably, the mod will improve over time, too — though quite by how much is likely to depend on whether CD Projekt Red delivers the sort of robust toolset found in games like Skyrim and Kingdom Come Deliverance.

My personal experience with Genshin Impact has been an odd one. I’d dabbled with it a little when it first launched, but quickly decided it wasn’t for me and dropped it in favor of other games that I was playing at the time. I decided to come back to it in early December, though, and this time, it stuck.

I won’t bore you with my gushing; simply put, it’s everything everyone has hyped it up to be. With the exception of recent missteps (the Zhongli debacle, for instance, which MiHoYo has promised to address with much-needed character buffs), Genshin Impact undoubtedly feels like an extremely polished game. There are daily commissions to do, quests to look forward to as you level up your Adventure Rank, and every little thing you do in the game feels rewarding in some way.

Before update 1.2, which released late December, Genshin Impact had already grabbed me. I was playing the game frequently enough to justify buying the Welkin Pass, and I stuck with the grind everyday to level up slowly and unlock more quests to do. And with the new Dragonspine update, it feels like I could, quite literally, play this game forever.

First off, update 1.2 adds a whole new region for players to explore. The icy mountains of Dragonspine, which were previously rudely blocked off to anyone who tried venturing outside of the map’s boundaries, are now open for exploration. It introduces a new sheer cold effect that gradually depletes your HP once you’ve veered away from the heat for too long, making it feel like a much more dangerous place to step foot into.

There are some new enemy types to contend with, new resources to collect, and a new currency called the Crimson Agate. As you can probably guess at this point, the Crimson Agates can be turned in for rewards, and oh believe you me, the rewards are certainly plentiful and well worth the effort.

The annual Awesome Games Done Quick speedrunning marathon for charity began on Sunday afternoon as an online only event, which was announced last September.

The speedrunning showcase will run for one week until Sunday, Jan. 10 and will end with an All Dungeons run of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for the Wii Virtual Console. Check out the full schedule of runs which include Yakuza 6: The Song of Life, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2, Hades, Carrion, Michael Jordan: Chaos in the Windy City, and more.

The runs will be hosted on the official Games Done Quick Twitch channel with the speedrunners playing from their respective homes. Awesome Games Done Quick 2021 will be raising money for the Prevent Cancer Foundation.

Last year’s event raised over $3.1 million for the organization, and was the last event the company held in front of a live crowd before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down most of the United States in March.

Valve announced the winners of The Steam Awards 2020 on Sunday afternoon across ten categories with the winners voted on by Steam users.

Red Dead Redemption 2 won the 2020 Game of the Year award against nominees Death Stranding, Doom Eternal, Fall Guys, and Hades. While the game originally launched on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2018, it was released for PC in November 2019 and missed the cutoff to be eligible for The Steam Awards 2019.

The game also won the Outstanding Story-Rich Game award against Detroit: Become Human, Mafia: Definitive Edition, Metro Exodus, and Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition.

Valve’s own Half-Life: Alyx won VR Game of the Year and 2012’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive won the Labor of Love award, which include games that have been supported with updates and new content post-launch.

Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout won the Better With Friends award, Death Stranding won Most Innovative Gameplay, Apex Legends won Best Game You Suck At, Ori and the Will of the Wisps won Outstanding Visual Style, and Doom Eternal won Best Soundtrack.

The Sims 4 won the Sit Back and Relax award. Though the game launched in 2014 for Electronic Arts’ Origin PC launcher, it was released for Steam last June.

Steam is currently running its annual Winter Sale until Tuesday, Jan. 5, and includes discounts on most of The Steam Awards’ winners and nominees.

Despite its initial issues, Final Fantasy XIV has always been lauded for its memorable and iconic soundtrack from composer Masayoshi Soken. The music has only gotten better as the game has gone on with the release of multiple expansions, with Shadowbringers being the latest one.

Even after the Shadowbringers arc has come to a close, though, FFXIV continues to shower players with new music with the release of each story patch. If you’ve been following the story closely, you’ll be glad to know that the music collection from the latest patch is now available for purchase digitally.

Titled Shadowbringers – EP3, you can now purchase the collection on services like the iTunes Store and Amazon, and other storefronts. It features the following tracks:

• Don’t Be Afraid
• Promises to Keep
• The Extreme
• Freshly Glazed Porxie
• The Black Wolf Stalks Again

Final Fantasy XIV is now available on PC and PS4, and while the Shadowbringers story has concluded, there’s still more story content to come this year.

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The Final Fantasy VII soundtrack was already considered to be one of the series’ best back in 1997, and with the FFVII Remake, we got to enjoy a redone and fully orchestrated version of the music that fans have become so familiar with. If you’re looking for more FFVII-related collectibles or just want the full soundtrack at your fingertips, you’ll be glad to know that the FFVII Remake Original Soundtrack Plus is now available for pre-order on the Square Enix store.

In addition to that, the OST Plus will also feature a beautiful grey cover, complete with new art of protagonist Cloud Strife from character designer Tetsuya Nomura.

This is a four-disc collection, and it contains tracks from in-game BGMs, and will have a focus on themes from the movie cutscenes that were not available in the original soundtrack itself. This is essentially a much more complete collection of the music from Final Fantasy VII.

The collection is up for pre-order, though there’s no set shipping date for it just yet. It’s scheduled to be released on Jan. 8, 2021 according to the product description.

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Developer Gate15Scenery provided a new work-in-progress look at its Microsoft Flight Simulator rendition of Tottori Airport in Japan.

The airport, also known as Tottori Sand Dunes Conan Airport, is known among other things with the official association with the popular Detective Conan manga and anime.

This is die to the fact that Conan’s creator, mangaka Gosho Aoyama, was born in Tottori.

The real airport is full of Detective Conan imagery and branding, and it even hosts a dedicated store with plenty of merchandise. Looks like the version in the simulator will feature the same, as you can see (if you squint) in the screenshots below.

Do keep in mind that this is in early development, so we can expect the final version of the airport to look a lot better.

The latest update to Star Citizen brought an interesting feature in the form of what’s essentially the growing game’s first “raid boss.”

A sizable chain of missions leads the player to face down an Idris-class frigate, which is a rather massive (242m-long) capital ship armed with a deadly railgun that can blast smaller ships out of the sky from 40 km away.

Of course, destroying it isn’t easy, but it certainly rewards players with a spectacular explosion.

You can check out a few videos below from YouTube users Morphologis,
BoredGamer, and Star Citizen Jorunn.

The third video is especially interesting as it shows two Isris frigades duking it out. Given Star Citizen’s nature as a sandbox game, it was inevitable that some players managed to steal the ship and turn it against its masters.

That being said, the ship will be implemented for players to use (without stealing it) at a later time, and it won’t even be the biggest available.

Today 3D Realms published a new video of the action-adventure FPS Graven developed by Slipgate Ironworks.

The video doesn’t show gameplay, but instead focuses on showcasing a new track from the game’s score, which will play in a location named Cruxfirth Archives.

You can listen below.

Graven, which is intended to be a spiritual successor to Hexen II, will launch for PS5, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One, and PC in 2021.

You can read an official description below, directly from Steam and check out the original announcement.

“A faithful priest of the Orthogonal order, exiled unto death for a crime in defense of another, you live again in a small boat, adrift in a swamp. A stranger ferries you to solid ground and bestows upon you vague instructions, along with a mysterious staff and book. Go forth, pious priest, alleviate suffering, uncover deceptions, and smash the eldritch perversions encroaching upon reality itself.