Enough is enough! There's no one who doubts the existence of the Xbox Series S at this point. There are mountains of evidence. Controller packaging, devkit profiling modes, general insider reports -- it all adds up to an open secret.

Time to throw a cardboard insert onto the already-heaping pile. The Xbox Series S has also been outed by a Game Pass Ultimate trial offer that comes with new accessories:

A Razer Blade gaming laptop, an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate 3-month membership, a sale on X-Men Dorbz, a 48-pack of Energizer AAA batteries, an 800A Tacklife T8 jump starter, a

Also Resident Evil 7 Biohazard, on Sept. 3

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Shiny new graphics cards, live from 5pm BST.

Square Enix revealed its lineup of games set to appear for TGS 2020 Online later this month.

The post Square Enix TGS 2020 Online Lineup Headlined by Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory and Balan Wonderworld appeared first on Siliconera.

PlayStation 4 and Xbox One players will also be able to enjoy Katamari Damacy Reroll when it arrives in Japan on November 19, 2020.

The post Katamari Damacy Reroll Will Coming to PS4s and Xbox Ones in November appeared first on Siliconera.

PolyAmorous has released a cinematic trailer for a grim-looking adventure title, Paradise Lost, which is set in the aftermath of an alternate-reality World War II, one which saw the conflict between allies and The Reich wage for over two decades.

In Paradise Lost, the second world war ended following a volley of nuclear weapons across Europe, leaving most of the continent an irradiated ruin. Players will step into the role of Szymon, a young child living in what remains of Poland. While exploring the post-apocalyptic ruins of his homeland, Szymon comes across an abandoned nuclear bunker, housing strange futuristic technology and daubed in bizarre Pagan iconography.

It’s Robert Pattinson, Millie Bobby Brown, and Tom Holland appreciation month

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If you’re a Facebook fan but hate its recent redesign, there’s hope. You can no longer revert back to “Old Facebook” simply by clicking a button in your settings menu, but you can install a Chrome extension that magically transforms the site, restoring the look and feel you previously enjoyed.

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It hasn't been all that long since the train appeared in Verdansk, but it looks like another mode of transportation could be entering Warzone soon, as Call of Duty fans have spotted several references to subway stations.

The most recent subway clue was spotted during the Call of Duty League over the weekend, which displayed an aerial view of the game map - including a mysterious new building near Stadium, which is not currently in-game.

Conveniently, the mysterious building lines up almost exactly with a previously-leaked map showing Metro locations around Verdansk (at station number 2). There are supposed to be seven subway stations in total, and players think it's likely these would be added as part of Season 6 at the end of September.

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Sony had potential PlayStation 5 developers talk about what the PS5 SSD could mean for games' abilities and possible loading options.

The post Sony Had Developers Speculate on PS5 SSD Possibilities appeared first on Siliconera.

2019 is a blur. I did not forget just about every facet of my very fun playthrough of Astral Chain, but I totally forgot it came out last August. Platinum seems pretty happy with it thus far, and are even took time out of their schedule to celebrate it in their offices this past week.

As you can see below, Platinum went all-out and created a giant whiteboard mural for the first anniversary, as well as a Lappy cake: based on the game's wholesome mascot that also serves as a mascot of the in-game precinct. Platinum designer Takahisa Taura also shared a few drawings from the game's concept artist and scenario writer to join in on the festivities.

Although people move on very quickly to the next hot thing these days, Astral Chain is a perfect example of why it's important to linger. Last August was a busy season heading into the packed holidays, but this is one action romp that I'm never going to forget. Thankfully, Platinum hasn't either.

Takahisa Taura [Twitter]

The duo take on Liu Cixin’s novel with The Terror: Infamy writer Alexander Woo

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It’s September in Animal Crossing: New Horizons unless you’re a dirty time traveler, and the onset of Autumn brings new bugs, new sea critters, new crafting components and recipes, and no more Sundays wasted on August firework shows, thank goodness.

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PS5 SSD Benefits

Well, in the Northern Hemisphere, at least

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It is now September of 2020 and Microsoft is still to announce Xbox Series S. But here we are, again, with the Xbox Series S name popping up on official Microsoft products out in the wild.

The Xbox Series S is now being name-dropped by Xbox Game Pass trial codes given out with Xbox controllers, as spotted by Twitter user BraviaryBrendan (thanks MSPowerUser).

"Unlimited access to over 100 high-quality games on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One and Windows 10," the Xbox Game Pass card states.

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Fall Guys developer Mediatonic has raised $1 million for UK charity Special Effect by auctioning off a custom character costume.  ...

Give Blathers a break and stop forcing him to talk about insects

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When you're in development on a game - whether you're a small indie dev or a larger publisher - how do you know whether it's going to do well or not? Steam wishlists help a lot - but how about wishlist quality? ...

More information on Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory will be revealed at this year's event.

The post Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory Will Be at Tokyo Game Show 2020 appeared first on Siliconera.

Tate Multimedia has released the first images of its upcoming remake of '00s platformer Kao the Kangaroo. Alongside a series of environmental screens, we also get our first look at the hoppity hero himself, sporting a somewhat less cartoony look than his original iteration.

Released in 2000, Kao the Kangaroo was one of a number of 3D platformers that flooded the market in the wake of successful releases such as Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon. In the PC and Dreamcast title, Kao bounds his way through a series of oddly juxtaposed worlds, on a mission to recuse his family from a band of hunters. Bafflingly, this quest takes our boy Kao into an underground mine and even outer space. Go figure.

The fine folks at 8BitDo sure know how to put together attractive controllers. This is their new arcade stick for the PC and Nintendo Switch. It’s super-moddable, supports wired and Bluetooth connections, has easy button mapping, and even has a turbo function. All that tech, yet it still looks like a time traveller…

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It’s finally the Fall season in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which means that there are now tons of acorns and pine cones that fall from trees –how exciting! Nintendo has released a brief advertisement for the life sim game to reveal some of the goodies that players will be able to get their hands on in September.

We get to see some of the bugs and fish that players can catch now, such as the Monarch Butterfly and Crickets. You can also now shake trees to grab some pine cones and acorns, as I mentioned earlier, which can be used to craft some adorable Fall-themed DIY items.

You can watch the trailer right here:

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is now available for the Nintendo Switch. Twinfinite has a massive Guide Wiki for those looking for handy tips and tricks and you can also read our glowing review to see why the game is so good.

You can also keep scrolling down for even more coverage!

The launch of the Kingdoms of Amalur remaster is just a few days away. On Sept. 8, players will be able to choose their destinies across multiple play styles. Today, THQ Nordic has released a gameplay trailer showing off some moves from the Might build in Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning.

Kingdoms of Amalur is a game that sort of flew under the radar when it originally came out back in 2012. RPG fans that missed out should definitely give it a go this time around.

Last week, the THQ Nordic gave us a quick look at a few techniques from the Finesse build. As you can probably guess, that archetype is full of stealth, daggers, bows, and quick takedowns.

Kingdom of Amalur: Re-Reckoning’s Might build is just a bit more in-your-face gameplay-wise. Rather than dodge and sneak around, MMight-based characters block attacks while facing enemies head-on.

Melee combat is the focus, with longswords and greatswords at your disposal in Might builds.

Check out the Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning trailer below to see some of that Might build gameplay for yourself:

Today Sony Interactive Entertainment released a PlayStation Blog post including a new video focusing on the PS5 and some interesting developer commentary.

The video, which you can see at the bottom of the post, boasts the “breathtaking immersion” provided by the console and briefly shows its games.

We also hear from developers discussing the SSD and the Tempest 3D AudioTech engine supported by the console.

SSD

“Beyond near-instant loading and fast-travel, the SSD and its speed allow us to more quickly load and display more detailed assets. This should lead to the city looking better than ever, and this is just the beginning for our team unlocking those possibilities. It’s a fundamental change that we can’t wait to take more advantage of in the years to come.”

— Brian Horton // Creative Director, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales

“As developers [of Demon’s Souls], we are already changing the way we think about the SSD. We see it not just as storage but also memory, utilizing the speed of the SSD to load data at blistering speeds, bringing you straight back into the action to avenge your many deaths.”

— Gavin Moore // Creative Director, SIE Japan Studio

“Hitman 3 pushes you to explore and experiment in huge sandbox locations – and being able to save/load frequently is key to that. The blitz-fast load times we are seeing on the PS5 console encourages [player] experimentation more than ever.”

— Mattias Engström // Game Director, Hitman 3

“The SSD is a gamechanger, I think as this generation matures we will see some amazing innovation in streaming and open-world game design.”

Ubisoft's back with its second Nintendo Direct-like streaming showcase. That's not much of a surprise considering it ended its first Ubisoft Forward by announcing a second. But now we have a hard date and a vague idea of what to expect.

In the teaser video above, Ubisoft tells us that the next Ubisoft Forward takes place on Thursday, September 10 at 1pm Pacific. On a personal note, I don't have to work on a weekend this time. Vast improvement over the first.

As for the games being shown, there's considerable footage dedicated to Watch Dogs: Legion, Hyper Scape, The Division 2 (I think), and Rainbow Six Siege. Here are some other rumors that are floating around though:

I have doctored someone's school grades to make sure they fail and I have exposed a cheating politician. I have taken down a company like Nestle, ended a cult and landed aeroplanes. I have destroyed chemical weapons, I have stopped a nuke. I've done all this and more in Greyhat because I'm the hacker everyone turns to when they need something done.

All I need is an IP address. I plug it into a tunnelling program and then I'm inside their machine, on their desktop, files and folders before me. Some might be locked but there are always clues to passwords lying around. Maybe it's the name of a loved one, maybe it's a birthday, maybe it's their favourite band. I check their emails, their documents and webcam feeds, and sooner or later I find what I need.

Greyhat leapt out at me earlier this year when I played a preview build. I found it sharp, imaginative and intriguing. I particularly loved the way it emulated the feeling of being an elite hacker in a film. You know, one of those people mashing away at a keyboard as a weird interface pops up and then crumbles away under their relentless assault.

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More information will be revealed during a special broadcast. There are also items available to buy.

The post Resident Evil Village Will Be Part of Capcom’s Tokyo Game Show 2020 Lineup appeared first on Siliconera.

While Marvel's Avengers is finally available for deluxe edition buyers (it's out fully on September 4), Square Enix has been prepping for this moment this past week. In addition to explaining how the cosmetics system works, there's also this rundown of co-op that's fairly informative.

Basically, players can go at it with the campaign on their own, but eventually they'll unlock certain missions on the War Table hub that can be played with folks online. That list includes War Zones ("expansive, explorable spaces") and Strike Teams (four-player missions with no duplicate heroes).

Beyond those frameworks, you can also embark upon different War Zone mission types, like the quick in-and-out drop zones, longer faction missions, explorable vaults (kind of like mini-dungeons), training rooms (HARM rooms), Hives and Villain Sectors. Most of these can be played solo with an AI or with other people through matchmaking or via your friends list.

One big caveat is that there is no drop-in play at launch. Here's the full statement: "Marvel’s Avengers doesn’t support Join in Progress Matchmaking at this time." So it could come in the future, but it's not in right now and there's no guarantees. Cross-play also isn't supported. You can, however, mute individual players.

Everything You Need to Know about Co-op Play [Square Enix]

There’s a whole new gang to find this month

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Sir Ridley Scott is best known for his work directing critically-acclaimed films like Alien, Blade Runner and Gladiator, but he was also responsible for directing Apple's famous 1984 advert for the Apple Macintosh. This advert, of course, has somehow found itself dragged into the ongoing dispute between Epic Games and Apple over microtransactions in Fortnite - and Scott has a couple of things to say about Epic's parody version.

Following Epic's decision to introduce a secondary payment method to skirt Apple's 30 per cent cut of in-game transactions (and the subsequent booting of Fortnite from the App Store), Epic released a parody of the 1984 ad called Nineteen Eighty-Fortnite, intended to rally Fortnite fans to its #FreeFortnite anti-monopolisation cause. When asked about the parody advert, Scott told IGN that he had written to Epic Games about the video, but his reaction was mixed to say the least.

"...On the one hand I can be fully complimented by the fact they copied [my commercial] shot for shot," Scott said. "But pity the message is so ordinary when they could have been talking about democracy or more powerful things... And they didn't use it."

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In the launch-week War Table stream for Marvel's Avengers, Crystal Dynamics confirmed that Kate Bishop (played by Ashly Burch) will arrive as part of the game's first post-launch operation with a new story and villain. She's up before Clint, and their operations can be thought of as a "double feature."

Kate's campaign operation, Taking AIM, will launch in "late October." Clint's story is aiming for November.

The developers said they knew they "couldn't do one [Hawkeye] without the other." And while there are some inherent similarities, Kate will have her own "set of skills, gear, and moves to unlock."

The presentation also covered the ongoing Avengers Initiative, which will cover limited-time events (some week-long, others seasonal), Mega Hives (a weekly mission type with a "gauntlet of descending floors" that uses your whole hero roster), and the AIM Secret Lab (a mission for near-maxed-out, power-level-150 players that requires "the full cooperation of a seasoned four-player team"). The latter mission will show up "once a week" and "must be completed within a set time window." FOMO strikes.

If you aren't overwhelmed yet, the PlayStation Blog has more details about the game's many activities.

The Nintendo Switch eShop now lets you cancel a pre-ordered game, up to a week before its release.

Previously, payment was taken as soon as you pre-purchased a game. This has changed so that payment is now taken seven days before a game's launch - at which point you can no longer cancel your pre-order.

The change does not affect pre-orders made within a week of launch (which will be charged immediately) or existing pre-orders already placed.

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In a special conference this morning, Nvidia announced its newest line of graphics cards as well as GeForce-enabled applications. Previously there were lots of swirling rumors about prices and card strength, with the target looking at 24GB of video memory on the card with a price tag of $1500. As the stream started today, myself and Dan in the Destructoid chat girded our loins for the inevitable pain of a future upgrade. What awaited us was a pleasant surprise.

As expected, the 3000 series was announced with three cards coming, all using the new Ampere architecture which will see a marked improvement over the 2000 series. The flagship GeForce RTX 3080 was announced to have 10GB of GDDR6X memory with a 19Gbps run speed, promising 60 frames per second at 4K resolution. With an MSRP of $699, it's a whole lot less of a shot to the wallet than initially expected. The "lower-end" card for the 3000 series was also announced as the GeForce RTX 3070. Boasting 8GB of GDDR6 memory, the card will launch with an MSRP of $499.

The fifth and final free title update for Monster Hunter World: Iceborne will arrive on the 1st of October, Capcom have announced, adding one last megamonster to mash. The big, bad, black dragon Fatalis is coming back, complete with the ruined castle where it’s historically fought in Monster Hunter. Yes, absolutely you’ll be able to turn Fatalis into a fetching jacket. You’ll also be able to dress your Palico as Fatalis, and the little catfriend jogging around a big doofy dragon costume does look delightful.

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The sugar glider adventure Away: The Survival Series is aiming for an early 2021 release on PC and PlayStation 4, and if you're open to exploration games that are rough around the edges but set you loose in a compelling landscape, you'll want to watch this 10-minute developer walkthrough video.

Yeah, the sugar glider's movement looks iffy at times and the possess-other-creatures mechanic is a curious choice, but I can easily picture myself scouring this hidden animal kingdom for secrets.

The walkthrough covers a few facets of Away including instinct vision (to see food and threats), sneaking through grass, chasing a fast-moving meal, a nature documentary narrator, and environmental storytelling. The game is set in the "distant future," and in this footage, the player temporarily possesses an insect so they can crawl into a crack and investigate a decaying computer.

Not all games need to be an eight out of ten, you know? I just hope Away isn't too tedious.