I hope I don't miss the Shamrock Soda in Animal Crossing: New Horizons before it goes away

3 years ago

I've slipped into a sort of low-maintenance mode with Animal Crossing: New Horizons. If there's a substantial update with new characters or ways of interacting with my island, sure, I'll show up. But when it comes to recurring events or limited-time celebratory items, I'm far more likely to let them slip by. As much as I enjoy accumulating stuff, I don't need everything. I'm not out here min-maxing!

In the case of Shamrock Day, Animal Crossing's St. Patrick's Day equivalent, I'll play it by ear. The event runs from March 10–17 in New Horizons with outfits and rotating daily items, according to Nintendo.

On the to-grab list: a "Fáilte" Shamrock Doorplate, a Shamrock Rug, and okay yeah, a Shamrock Soda.

Nintendo also previewed the Shamrock Day apparel – sunglasses, a hat, a suit, and shoes – that will be sold by the Able Sisters. Don't let anyone pinch you. And be on the lookout for the Shamrock Wand.

I could take or leave everything except the Shamrock Soda. That's a keeper. As for Nintendo's fickle update strategy in general, I'm forcing myself to "let it happen when it happens." It's easier that way. Long-time Animal Crossing players are surely wondering what the holdup is with meaningful new content in New Horizons, and I don't blame them. At this point, it feels like a marathon, not a sprint.

I hope I don't miss the Shamrock Soda in Animal Crossing: New Horizons before it goes away screenshot

Author
Jordan Devore

Yakuza's Creator On His Life, Career, And Why Sega Should've Fired Him In The '90s

3 years ago

Toshihiro Nagoshi has worked on some of the most influential games of all time, including Virtua Fighter and Shenmue. These days, he’s most well known for his work on the Yakuza series. We caught up with Nagoshi to learn more about his life, career, and why he thinks Sega should’ve fired him. 

Toshihiro Nagoshi knows how to make an entrance. He’s seven minutes late after a smoke break, wearing a $2,700 Louis Vuitton jacket. Coy yet honest, reserved and flashy all at once, somehow, he fits his 30 years of game-development history into an hour-long Zoom call. It’s a story that encompasses childhood trauma, Yu Suzuki, and drunken meetings that turned into one of the biggest cult franchises in video game history. But it all starts far away from where he’s sitting right now in Tokyo.

Nagoshi grew up in the small, rural prefecture of Yamaguchi. When you talk to him about his early life, he doesn’t have a lot of positives to share. Nagoshi came from a poor household, his parents victims of sizable debt, and his father in particular had a gambling problem. Despite saying he recognizes that what he went through with his family was a necessary learning experience that got him to where he is today, he has a lot of complicated feelings about the household he grew up in.

Author
Blake Hester

Sony Partners With Four Non-profits To Support Black Communities

3 years ago

Sony has announced a string of partnerships with four different non-profits with the ultimate goal of "improving access to the tech and gaming industry" for the Black community.

The four non-profits Sony has partnered with--which the company unveiled in a blog post from late-February--are Black Girls CODE, Black In Gaming, Gameheads, and The Hidden Genius Project. It's unclear how Sony intends to bolster these non-profits' efforts; however, the company committed $1 million in June 2020 to support organizations aimed at ending systemic inequality following George Floyd's death at the hands of Minneapolis police.

Each of the non-profits targets the same goal: increasing the number of Black employees in the fields of gaming and technology. A couple have specific parameters--such as Black Girls CODE focusing on girls between the ages of 7 and 17--but all are intent on ensuring Black employees are well-represented in a burgeoning industry, where 83% of Black teens play video games as compared to 71% of white teens, according to a 2015 Pew Research study.

This partnership comes almost a year after Sony--along with other gaming companies like Nintendo and Xbox--has urged for the plague of racism to finally dissipate. Each of the major players in gaming has made their own commitments, from pledging hundreds of thousands of dollars to support organizations to releasing lengthy statements lambasting discrimination.

Author
Jeremy Winslow

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An Epileptic’s Guide To Gaming

3 years ago

A common misconception about seizures is that they only happen to people with epilepsy. That's not true; seizures can occur in anyone. There is also no "one type" of epileptic episode, which means learning about triggers can be a tricky process. With accessibility in gaming becoming more of a priority within the gaming space, studios are finally beginning to look at the impact of certain effects on those susceptible to neurological episodes beyond simply slapping a warning label on games and calling it a day. 

As someone who has seizures due to an injury from my time when I was active duty, the years following this new development have been a steep learning curve for me when navigating some of my favorite and most anticipated games. I no longer can enjoy titles like Dead Space freely as I used to, which opened up an entirely new world of development that never even entered my scope of awareness. Since seizures have become my new norm, I often make sure to pay special attention to certain design choices that can be harmful to those sensitive to neurological traps. That way, I can decide for myself if something is safe to play, and see if there is a way to work around those obstacles and try to offer some navigational tools for others that may be facing similar roadblocks. For those who experience any type of seizure or those who live in the same household with someone with epileptic tendencies, here is our Epileptic's Guide to Gaming. 

Author
Liana Ruppert

Scribblenauts Dev Releases New Early Access Game Titled Castlehold

3 years ago

Scribblenauts dev 5th Cell released a new Early Access game titled Castlehold. A competitive strategy game, Castlehold requires players to navigate what it calls an Active Resource Control System. The core of such resource management is choosing when to expand territory, defend villages, and plan strategic retreats in order to secure the end goal: your opponents' castles.

Building an army is a key gameplay element necessary to achieve conquests. Soldiers can be collected with currency from leveling up and completing quests. 300 units, five captains, and four different battlefields are available to mix and match in Castlehold's Early Access version.

While the setup feels pretty medieval--castles and villages form most of the game's landmarks--the units appear to be from wildly different contexts. You can assemble armies out of cowgirls, buccaneers, samurai, vikings, futuristic cyborgs, and more.

"The team at 5th Cell is thrilled to reveal and release Castlehold today," said 5th Cell's CEO and Creative Director Jeremiah Slaczka. "This project is an exciting next step for our studio that draws on our roots as innovators to push new boundaries and deploy a fresh and appealing experience for trainees and master tacticians alike. We welcome everyone from across space and time to join us in the Drift as we launch now on Steam Early Access."

Castlehold's full edition will likely add more units, captains, and battlefields. 5th Cell also hopes to add new modes in addition to the ones currently available in Early Access, of which include AI Training, a Casual Mode, and a Ranked Ladder Mode.

Author
Jenny Zheng

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Some Fantastic PS4 And PS5 Games Are Discounted In PSN's New Sale

3 years ago

The PlayStation Store's latest iteration of the Essential Picks sale is live now, with deals on a bunch of AAA games, including some recent titles like Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and Watch Dogs Legion. The sale runs until March 18, so you have a couple of weeks to make your picks. Additionally, those looking to add to their PS5 and PS4 library for cheap can check out the newest Games Under $15 sale, which is also live until March 18.

The Essential Picks sale includes both the PS4 and PS5 versions of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. The standard PS4 edition is discounted to $45, while the Cross-Gen bundle with PS5 upgrades is $54.59. Watch Dogs Legion's Gold edition is discounted to the lowest price we've seen at $40. Normally $100, the Gold edition comes with the season pass, which includes an upcoming story expansion, extra missions, and the original Watch Dogs.

Author
Steven Petite

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New Games Coming In March 2021 For PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, Switch, And PC

3 years ago

March is upon us, and it's looking to be an extremely good month for RPG fans and anyone with a Nintendo Switch. Monster Hunter Rise brings intense battles against enormous creatures to the very-much-not-enormous Nintendo Switch, and the cooperative experts at Hazelight launch their next adventure It Takes Two this month, as well.

Below, you can see the biggest game releases in March on all major platforms. You can also check out our video games release dates of 2021 article for a comprehensive list of the whole year.

Author
Gabe Gurwin

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Diablo 2: Resurrected Will Have Two Alphas - One Single Player, One Multiplayer

3 years ago
Diablo 2: Resurrected is set to be released later in 2021, but players who can't wait to jump back in to the remake of the classic Blizzard title will get a chance to participate in both a single-player alpha and a multiplayer stress test before then. Speaking to PCGamesN, Diablo 2: Resurrected lead producer Chris Lena explained how the rollouts of these alphas will all lead up to the game's release. "We’re going to start with a single-player technical alpha, and then we’ll have a second technical alpha after that, which is kind of multiplayer and stress testing,” Lena said while also confirming that they will obviously arrive before launch. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/02/19/diablo-2-resurrected-reveal-trailer"] Sign-ups for Diablo 2: Resurrected's alpha tests are happening now and its free to enter. Testers will be chosen randomly, and its important to note that pre-purchasing the game does not gain you access to the alpha. Diablo 2: Resurrected was announced at BlizzCon 2021 and will be released in 2021 on PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. It will not be a remake, but a remaster, as the team wanted to ensure players will be getting "the game" they remember from the year 2000. However, It will have a modern 3D layer on top of everything with particle-based rendering, dynamic lighting, and, where appropriate, upgraded visuals and sound. It will also run at 4K 60fps on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X.
Author
Adam Bankhurst

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Paladins Reveals New Champion, Octavia; Releases This Month

3 years ago

Paladins unveiled a new champion today via a cinematic trailer on their official YouTube channel. Octavia is the champion’s name and they are designed to be a tactically-focused character that used a scoped weapon and has abilities to “control the flow of battle”

Check out the cinematic down below:

A livestream that followed the announcement went into a bit more detail about what Octavia plays like in-game. At the time of this writing, it’s still ongoing but what we can glean so far is that the champion is built around her long-range, high-powered, semi-automatic rifle and will be a damage champion.

In addition, she has a large leap that can clear lots of distance and she has the ability to aim down sights while in this leap to freeze in place to shoot.

Octavia will also have powerful passive abilities that you can choose at the start of the match to define your playstyle and boost the team, playing into the fantasy of being a commander.

Octavia is the 48th champion to be released into the game, which sounds like a lot until you compare it to Smite’s 113 gods.

Author
Ed McGlone

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JRPG-Inspired VR MMO Zenith Coming to PlayStation VR

3 years ago

Today Ramen VR announced via PlayStation Blog that its virtual-reality MMORPG Zenith is coming to PlayStation VR.

The game, heavily inspired by Sword Art Online and JRPG, isn’t just coming to PlayStation, but will also be available for Oculus and, Steam VR. If you don’t have a VR headset, you’ll also be able to play on a normal desktop.

It was originally funded via a Kickstarter campaign in 2019, and it has made a lot of progress since.

You can check out the trailer that accompanied today’s announcement below, and find plenty more footage on the developers’ YouTube channel.

Here’s how Ramen VR CEO Andy Tsen introduces it.

Author
Giuseppe Nelva

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Contest: Win a brand new Switch console and a copy of trippy musical RPG Everhood

3 years ago

In today's contest you can win a brand new Switch, and a copy of Everhood!

Have you ever heard of Everhood? Well if you haven't, now you have! It's a strange one, for sure, but that's just how I like 'em.

The lovely folks at developer Foreign Gnomes would like to not only give away some Switch copies of their brand new game, but also a brand new Switch to play it on! Isn't that nice of them?

Warning: The trailer below contains flashing imagery.

Contest: Win a brand new Switch console and a copy of trippy musical RPG Everhood screenshot

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Author
Wes Tacos

PS4 Beta Update 8.50 Lets You Turn Group Notifications Off, Removes Communities

3 years ago

The next big PS4 update has arrived to beta tests, and while it brings several quality-of-life improvements to the system, it also removes a feature.

As reported by MP1st, the PS4 beta update 8.50 adds options to turn on or off notifications for each group that you are in. This should help keep things from getting too hectic if you're in several groups at once.

When players are in a game session screen they can also use the Request to Join button that sends a notification to the session leader. When playing a game that you've hidden, other players will no longer see you play it.

The PlayStation Communities app on smartphones was shut down back in March 2020, and the latest firmware looks set to kill the social feature off entirely when it arrives. No reason why was given, but with the rise of gaming social spaces such as Discord, a lack of activity in PlayStation Communities could be a likely factor.

Back in October, PS4 firmware update 8.00 added enhanced two-factor verification security features, new avatars, and a traditional amount of stability. Parental controls were also simplified, while features such as the ability to create Events or access existing Events created by other users were removed alongside the option to start private communities.

Another big change coming to PlayStation consoles will see users no longer able to rent and purchase TV shows and movies from August 31, 2021. This major change is due to the rise of various subscription services, which have seen a drastic shift in how people consume entertainment.

Author
Darryn Bonthuys

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Five Star Wars Stories That Would Make Great Games

3 years ago

Now that Lucasfilm is allowing more publishers and developers to take a crack at making Star Wars games, I'd love to see a handful of Star Wars "classics" get reborn as interactive experiences. I put "classics" in air quotes because Star Wars' history is so complicated and messy that some its greatest stories no longer exist in the universe's ongoing continuity. Yes, you can still buy and read these stories, but most have been retconned. Lucasfilm now calls them "Legends," treating them like "what if" alternate timelines or dreams.

Seeing amazing creative works get reconned is awful, but I understand why Lucasfilm did it from business and storytelling perspectives. With dozens of stories hitting each year, the Star Wars universe quickly became a mess of confusing plotlines and crossed wires; there was just too much happening at once and not enough checks were in place to ensure quality content was being delivered. When it came to creating a new sequel trilogy with Luke, Han, and Leia, they all had lived full lives in novels and comics. Communicating their character developments to theatergoers would have been a monumental task, a task that would need to be nailed down to every small detail. Could it have been done? Yes. Should it have been done? Yes. Did Lucasfilm's decision to turn the Death Star's laser on these stories pay off? I think the answer is also yes.

Author
Andrew Reiner

We Don’t Deserve JuJutsu Kaisen’s Satoru Gojo

3 years ago

Every now and then, an anime will come around that manages to be funny, well-written, gorgeously animated, and have a colorful cast of characters with a likable protagonist. Jujutsu Kaisen is just that, lead by the lovable nitwit that is Yuji Itadori. Yet, Yuji – and the show as a whole – wouldn’t be half as good if it weren’t for his sensei, Satoru Gojo.

The moment Satoru Gojo appears in the first episode, his presence is commanding. His cool Kakashi-like look and laidback attitude, combined with the way he fights, always put him center stage. And that is exactly where someone as beautiful as he belongs.

Maybe it’s the “white-haired anime characters being beautiful” trope; maybe it’s the fact that his eyes, when revealed, are literally the color of a vast ocean. There is just something about Gojo’s aesthetic and fashion that jumps off the page.

Author
Andrew McMahon

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Resident Evil Village Will Support AMD-Powered Ray Tracing On PC

3 years ago

Resident Evil Village will be getting ray tracing support on PC, thanks to a partnership between Capcom and AMD. Footage of Village running with ray tracing enabled was shown off during AMD's announcement of the RX 6700 XT, its latest RDNA 2-powered GPU for desktops. The footage showed off the now-familiar foyer of Lady Dimitrescu's mansion, which was illuminated with accurately-traced reflections and lighting.

The partnership between AMD and Capcom also includes FidelityFX support; A suite of AMD-specific enhancements such as variable-rate shading, super resolution support, and more. This does mean that Resident Evil Village is unlikely to get the full suite of Nvidia options on PC, too, which could exclude support for DLSS--a big boon for high framerates when enabling ray tracing.

Author
Alessandro Barbosa

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Last Of Us 2 Director Talks About The Golf Club

3 years ago

There is a key moment in The Last of Us: Part II involving a golf club, and game director and writer Neil Druckmann has now provided more context on the matter. Druckmann also shared his own personal history with golf and how he sustained a permanent head injury from it.

MASSIVE SPOILERS FOLLOW BELOW

The character Abby brutally murders Last of Us protagonist Joel with a golf club in The Last of Us: Part II. It's a gut-wrenching sequence that sticks with you.

Druckmann told The Washington Post that the decision to have Abby kill Joel with a golf club came later in the writing process. Originally, Abby was going to stab Joel with a knife and paralyze him by twisting the blade into his back. But it was changed to a golf club later on.

"For a long time, Abby stabbed Joel in the back then twisted the knife to paralyze him," Druckmann said. "But knife felt more like an Ellie thing. We wanted something different."

Druckmann does have a personal connection to golf club-related injuries, as he was struck in the head by a golf club when he was 16. He needed 30 stitches and he still has a dent in his skull from it.

"My friend was into [golf]," Druckmann said. "He invited me to go to a driving range. He was showing me the ropes. I stood behind him, and got smacked on the back swing. Blood everywhere."

Author
Eddie Makuch

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Valheim Hits 5 Million Sales

3 years ago

Valheim is arguably already the games industry’s biggest success story so far in 2021, and if its momentum continues at this pace it’s hard to see anything surpassing it for the rest of the year. Today, developer Iron Gate Studios has announced yet another sales milestone.

The sandbox survival game has now surpassed 5 million sales. That’s another million since the last count… a week ago! Valheim has steadily been selling one million copies per week more or less since its Early Access launch on Feb 2.

Today’s announcement came with some

  • Spend more than 15,000 years playing Valheim
  • Watch more than 35 million hours of gameplay Twitch
  • Pushed us to number 39 in the best user-reviewed games on Steam of all time
  • Made our five-person strong team excited to come to work (virtually) each and every single day (that’s one person per million sales, by the way!)

The message ends with a pledge to stick to its 2021 roadmap, which we already know includes the launch of the game’s next biome. Although, it’s worth keeping in mind that the team is just five people strong, and delays are always possible.

If you’re playing Valheim and ever need some useful tips, do be sure to check out Twinfinite’s extensive guide wiki.

The post Valheim Hits 5 Million Sales appeared first on Twinfinite.

Author
Alex Gibson

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Inner World dev's beautiful narrative puzzler Minute of Islands has been delayed

3 years ago

Studio Fizbin, the developer behind acclaimed point-and-click adventure series The Inner World, has delayed the release of its beautiful narrative puzzle platformer Minute of Islands, meaning it'll no longer launch on 18th March as originally planned.

Minute of Islands charts the adventures of a young engineer named Mo as she journeys across a procession of beautifully distinct islands, meeting new characters and uncovering forgotten secrets in an attempt to save her archipelago home from a disaster of ancient origins.

Eurogamer's Christian Donlan was thoroughly charmed by Minute of Islands' early moments when he took the Steam Game Festival demo for a spin last month, calling it a "neat blend of exploration, traversal and puzzle solving", both fascinating and disquieting.

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Sony wants to turn bananas into controllers

3 years ago

I don't know if someone at Sony was inspired by that Hades run with a pomegranate, but it seems the obsession with fruity controllers has now resulted in a patent application, as Sony has devised a way to turn everyday items into working controllers. Including a banana.

As reported by GamesIndustry.biz, the tech would apparently allow any "non-luminous passive object being held by the user" to be transformed into a controller. Objects would apparently be scanned with a camera, which would track items based on pixels, contours and colours. A game could be trained to recognise objects as controllers, or tell users which household items could be used as a controller.

The patent application uses bananas and oranges as examples, explaining that the system would be able to track an object's movement, so the object could be used to steer an in-game camera - or to accelerate, decelerate and brake. I'm calling this Gran Turnipso.

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Call Of Duty: Warzone Patch Notes Include Weapon, UI Changes

3 years ago

Activision has once again patched Call of Duty: Warzone to fix some issues that have cropped up in the wake of the Season 2 update. The new patch for March 3 addresses the Agencry/GRU/Wrapped suppressors and fixes problems with Baker's Operator mission.

Elsewhere, there are some small changes to the UI to make things like icons, store bundles, and other elements appear more as they should and pleasant to the eye. You can see the full patch notes below, as posted by Raven Software.

This is the second update for Warzone this week, following one on March 1 that made changes to Reactive blueprint skins and the Vulture Exo blueprint in particular.

In other news, Actvision is reportedly planning to blow up the current map--Verdansk--and introduce a huge overhaul to the battle royale game with a theme around Black Ops.

Call of Duty: Warzone March 3 Patch Notes

  • Agency/GRU/Wrapped Suppressors have been reverted to their previous state
  • Fourth Operator Mission for Baker with objective to eliminate 15 enemies using a weapon with an attached 2x magnified scope or greater now tracks correctly
  • Small updates to various UI elements such as icons, store bundles, player level up, among others
Author
Eddie Makuch

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The Legend of Heroes: Kuro no Kiseki Screenshots Show Switch Between Action & Turn Battles on Famitsu

3 years ago

Today’s issue of Weekly Famitsu included a spread on the upcoming JRPG The Legend of Heroes: Kuro no Kiseki by Nihon Falcom.

We get to take another look at the two protagonists, and at artwork showcasing the city where the story starts in the Republic of Calvard.

Then we take an extensive look at the battle system, which can be freely switched between action and turns.

As you move in the field, you can accelerate with R1 and target enemies with R3. You can also completely avoid battles if you so wish. On the other hand, you can close the distance and attack, but of course the enemies will also notice you and try to attack you in return.

Once battle begins, you can attack enemies repeatedly in real-time by pressing the attack button (circle) . If you have a party, you can switch active character whenever you want, and you can change to turn-based battles freely at the press of a button according to your preference.

Incidentally, the main hero wields a sword that can release a shockwave upon hitting, possibly stunning enemies.

The X button lets you evade attacks. The hero does so by backflipping, while the heroine can sidestep. You can also disengage your targeting and run away, leaving the battle at any time.

If you switch to turn-based, it works with command selection as usual, but the character whose turn is to act can still move freely in the battle area.

The effective range of arts has been tweaked and it’s now important to exploit weakness to certain attributes and keeping the range in mind when using them.

Other available commands are “defense,” which reduces received damage, and “BOOST.” S-Break also makes a comeback, when the conditions are met.

Author
Giuseppe Nelva

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