The director of Tekken 8 has responded after a video of the upcoming fighting game’s colourblind mode was reported to have caused migraines and vertigo among players, with accessibility experts expressing their worries that the filter could cause even more serious side effects among those with epilepsy and other photosensitive conditions.
The director of Tekken 8 has responded after a video of the upcoming fighting game’s colourblind mode was reported to have caused migraines and vertigo among players, with accessibility experts expressing their worries that the filter could cause even more serious side effects among those with epilepsy and other photosensitive conditions.
After a lengthy development cycle, Neko Atsume VR is finally around as Neko Atsume Purrfect Kitty Collector for Meta Quest 2, 3, and Pro headsets. While it is cute and quite relaxing, it feels like it sticks a bit too closely to the mobile balancing and doesn’t take into account that someone might only play it once or twice each day.
Like the mobile game, Neko Atsume Purrfect Kitty Collector is about making your virtual home inviting to stray cats. You set out food and place objects and toys for the cats to use. Then, you take some time away and come back to see what animals were lured in by your treats. You then get to take photos of them being adorable, which you catalog in a journal, collect fish as gifts from them or mementos if they like you enough, and put out more food and items to repeat the process. Here, the new gimmicks involve handheld items to feed treats or shake toys, the opportunity to pet or pick up cats after calling them over, and taking advantage of mixed reality features to see the cats in the “real world.”
Turn-based combat is one of the oldest forms of battle in video games. Decades later, genres like the RPG still use turn-based combat effectively, so why has it stood the test of time?
The iconic combat system originated in pen-and-paper RPGs like Dungeons & Dragons. When making the first RPG video games, translating the turn-based system was a natural choice for developers. It circumvented many technical issues, as the system was basically all math. You didn't need to see characters or really anything at all, but it still offered complexity and depth.
However, as the video game industry grew in popularity, so did the technical capabilities of games. Now, there are plenty of ways to portray combat in real-time effectively. Despite there being more advanced alternatives available, we still have many games released that are turn-based. This is because the combat system still offers a unique depth.
While the weather outside is still a bit chilly and everyone’s bank accounts are recovering from the holidays, visiting an escape room with friends might not be at the top of your to-do list. Fortunately, you can currently get some of the same puzzly satisfaction for free - and without having to go outside - by nabbing Escape Academy over on the Epic Games Store for the next 24 hours.
While the weather outside is still a bit chilly and everyone’s bank accounts are recovering from the holidays, visiting an escape room with friends might not be at the top of your to-do list. Fortunately, you can currently get some of the same puzzly satisfaction for free - and without having to go outside - by nabbing Escape Academy over on the Epic Games Store for the next 24 hours.
As 1983 came into focus, the future of video games in North America looked bleak. Store shelves were crowded with poorly made games, and consumer interest waned substantially. Developers that ushered in the “golden age” of arcades and the first two generations of home consoles began to crash and burn at an alarming pace. In no time, the once billion-dollar industry was reduced to rubble.
In the summer of that same year, in Japan, gaming giant Nintendo released its first-ever home console with swappable cartridges. With its striking red and gold design, the Family Computer, better known as the Famicom, brought arcade hits like Donkey Kong and Mario Bros. into Japanese homes.
While the Famicom would go on to revitalize the North American gaming market as the VHS-inspired Nintendo Entertainment System, or NES, many of Nintendo’s quirky games and accessories were forever locked in its home country. With the Famicom’s 40th anniversary at hand, there’s never been a better time to look back on the bizarre and surprisingly innovative experiments Nintendo unleashed on Japanese players throughout the console's celebrated run.
Maybe you finally got Baldur’s Gate 3 this past week after pining for it for months and want some help tackling its tactical battles, or maybe you’re more interested in looking ahead to what early 2024 has to offer. Whatever the case, our roundup of tips and informative posts likely has something for you.
Touhou spin-off, indie games are hit or miss. You never know what the experience and quality will be like until you give one a shot. Koumajou Remilia II: Stranger's Requiem is a follow-up to Frontier Aja and CFK’s original 2022 Castlevania sort of release and, while the game doesn’t do too much new for this series or genre, it’s a challenging enough adventure.
Some background with the Touhou series helps here, but the story of Koumajou Remilia II: Stranger's Requiem is pretty easy to jump into. Sakuya Izayoi is essentially a maid/bodyguard for Remilia Scarlet. Upon returning to the Scarlet Devil Mansion, she finds things are awry and everyone else there missing. You’ll need to defeat familiar and unfamiliar bosses, who retain their bullet hell sort of energy attack patterns despite this being a Castlevania-like, reunite with characters who can become summon partners, and fight your way through stages to discover what’s going on.
LEGO Fortnite feels like one of the best surprises in gaming in a long time. Epic Games and LEGO came together to offer a survival experience that feels like an amalgamation of multiple titles into one monumental offering. It may not be perfect, but it lays the foundation for something special.
LEGO Fortnite feels like a mix of games like Minecraft, Stardew Valley, Story of Seasons, and Animal Crossing. It takes the standard survival and building mechanics of Minecraft, tosses in farming and relationships from Story of Seasons, and has the idea of building houses and recruiting lovable villagers, like in Animal Crossing.
Happy Wintermas, dear reader. And happy new year, I guess. Are you enjoying yours? I'm writing this in the distant past of mid-December, a period of total spiritual desolation. If all has gone to plan, I am currently waving a goblet over my head like some kind of hipster barbarian, and trying to finish all the dodgy vegan Xmas food I've cooked which the rest of my family won’t eat, the savages.
I have now read our so-called RPS 2023 Advent Calendar and found it to be woefully deficient in flirty rebels, lunar deities and stage coaches packed with damned adventurers. Never fear, however, because by happy coincidence I have also now written an end-of-year/start-of-year round-up article about these very things.
Happy Wintermas, dear reader. And happy new year, I guess. Are you enjoying yours? I'm writing this in the distant past of mid-December, a period of total spiritual desolation. If all has gone to plan, I am currently waving a goblet over my head like some kind of hipster barbarian, and trying to finish all the dodgy vegan Xmas food I've cooked which the rest of my family won’t eat, the savages.
I have now read our so-called RPS 2023 Advent Calendar and found it to be woefully deficient in flirty rebels, lunar deities and stage coaches packed with damned adventurers. Never fear, however, because by happy coincidence I have also now written an end-of-year/start-of-year round-up article about these very things.
Promise you won't tell the other children, but the RPS staff are actually complex magical spells cast by the Sugar Plum Fairy, as part of an age old pact with the ents of the forest where the RPS treehouse was built hundreds of years ago. Each year the Sugar Plum Fairy has to collect more wishes to power the spells every year (you can help to make the spells more powerful by joining the RPS supporter program). While she's out wish-hunting, here are some Christmas Crackers to distract you.
Time to enjoy your lovely joke!
Q: What’s a fisherman’s favourite carol?
Promise you won't tell the other children, but the RPS staff are actually complex magical spells cast by the Sugar Plum Fairy, as part of an age old pact with the ents of the forest where the RPS treehouse was built hundreds of years ago. Each year the Sugar Plum Fairy has to collect more wishes to power the spells every year (you can help to make the spells more powerful by joining the RPS supporter program). While she's out wish-hunting, here are some Christmas Crackers to distract you.
Time to enjoy your lovely joke!
Q: What’s a fisherman’s favourite carol?
Want a 32-inch gaming monitor for around $150? If you sign up for LG's US store newsletter and get a 10% off code, you can get the LG 32GN600, a VA-panel monitor with excellent contrast, a 2560x1440 resolution and 165Hz refresh rate with FreeSync and G-Sync support, for just $152 rather than its already-discounted $169. That's a phenomenal deal and the best we've ever seen for a monitor of this size.
With refreshed SUPER cards expected in the month ahead, mid-range RTX 40-series graphics cards are seeing heavy discounts at many retailers. One deal that caught our eye this morning is this deal on a Gigabyte RTX 4070 Windforce 3X OC model, which is down to £530.58 when bought from Amazon US via Amazon UK.
The deal price, which includes shipping and import duty, is significantly cheaper than UK-based options from major GPU makers which are in the £560 to £600 range. However, there are cheaper UK options if you're happy with a smaller, non-overclocked Palit card. Palit is more of a budget brand, but is built around the same Nvidia GPU and therefore offers the same performance.
The Dynasty Warriors series' development team from Koei Tecmo's Omega Force published its 2024 New Year's Card. The team has been known for sharing a new card with a Chinese zodiac animal theme every New Year's Day. As 2024 is also the Year of the Dragon, it features characters closely related to the mythical creature.
Two of the most closely related characters are Zhao Yun, whose courtesy name "Zilong" includes the "Long" hanzi letter meaning "Dragon," and Zhuge Liang, who is also known as the "Sleeping Dragon." Omega Force also put Guan Yu and Ma Chao into the picture, since the team used the Dragon as a motif for both characters' outfits. All four characters in this card are affiliated with Liu Bei's kingdom of Shu.
Yamato Takeru, the Saber-class Servant from Fate/Samurai Remnant, appeared in the Japanese version of Fate/Grand Order. Type-Moon revealed at the very end of its Fate Project New Year's Eve 2023 TV program that the character would join the mobile game on January 1, 2024. Players in the Japanese server have confirmed that a new gacha banner featuring the Servant appeared right at midnight in Japan's time zone.
This character debuted in Fate/Samurai Remnant, an action RPG available on the PS5, PS4, Switch, and PC. As the Servant of the game's protagonist, official outlets had to keep the true identity under wraps shortly after the game came out in late September 2023. Type-Moon formally removed the restriction after it published an interview on the game's official website on December 22, 2023.
Type-Moon has also uploaded a new TV commercial video on Fate/Grand Order's YouTube channel. The last five seconds of this fifteen-second-long trailer features Yamato Takeru. The video is also available to watch right below:
Koei Tecmo and Omega Force released a trailer for the upcoming first DLC pack for Fate/Samurai Remnant. The DLC will be called Record's Fragment: Keian Command Championship and is set to release sometime in February 2024.
The trailer features Gilgamesh, King of Heroes and textile wholesaler, announcing that he "seized control over [the] fates" of various masters and servants from the game. Details are sparse but he seems to be holding a kind of formal tournament variation on the Waxing Moon ritual. We will also have to wait and see whether this DLC story will be set concurrently with the main Fate/Samurai Remnant story or exist as separate, alternate timeline-type situation.
Gilgamesh is a recurring servant in the Fate franchise based on the historical Babyolonian king of the same name, appearing in the original Fate/Stay Night visual novel as a potential antagonist. In Fate/Samurai Remnant he appears as a rogue Ruler class servant running a shop in Edo called 'Babyloni-ya".
You can watch the trailer via Youtube below:
Type-Moon and ufotable published the second teaser trailer for the upcoming movie anime adaptation of Witch on the Holy Night. As previously promised, the studios aired the trailer right after the Fate Project New Year's Eve TV program had concluded in Japan.
When ufotable published the first trailer in December 2021, it only showed a simple scene of Aoko Aozaki and Alice Kuonji gazing through a starry night sky on a field of flowers. The new second trailer features more locations and action scenes. It concludes by showing Aoko unleashing a powerful magic attack.
However, ufotable has still yet to announce a release window for this movie. The large Japanese text at the end of this trailer simply informs that the movie anime's production is still in progress.
The new teaser trailer for the Witch on the Holy Night movie is also available to watch below, via Aniplex's YouTube channel:
From Triple-A titles to indie bangers, 2023 was a fantastic year for horror games! This past year, the horror genre reached new heights with a slew of terrifying titles that promised to haunt even the most laid-back gamers’ nightmares.
Prepare to immerse yourself in the macabre with our curated list of the all-time scariest horror games of 2023! These interactive nightmares are not for the faint of heart, as they plunge players into wicked worlds where every creak, whisper, and shadow could be a harbinger of unspeakable horrors. Brace yourself for an adrenaline-fueled journey through the darkest recesses of 2023’s most chilling landscapes!
On paper, 2024 is already gearing up to be one of the best years gaming has seen in a long time. From Persona 3 Reload to Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, players have a wealth of potential future classics to choose from. We wanted to discuss what our most anticipated games of 2024 are.
2024 is already shaping up to be a year that will hurt my wallet. But out of all of the releases, I'm most looking forward to Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. I need to know more about what's going on with Zack and those seemingly alternate timelines, and I need to know immediately. Persona 3 Reload coming out just a few weeks prior will help with the wait, but it might also bloat my backlog if I'm not fast enough! -- Daniel
My answer is a little biased since I got to play a preview of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth back in September 2023, and I was floored by it. However, the sequel remake is, without a doubt, my most anticipated game of 2024. Rebirth is not only shaping up to be another excellent reimagining of Final Fantasy 7 but it's also looking to be one of the best open-world games released in years. However, I couldn't call myself a true Atlus fan if I didn't also mention Persona 3 Reload as the runner-up to my most anticipated release next year.
Fans and accessibility advocates alike have reached out to Tekken 8 director Katsuhiro Harada in a bid to have its colourblind options revised ahead of the game's release next month.
After videos and screenshots showcasing the fighting game's accessibility modes went viral over the festive period, colourblind players and accessibility advisers reached out to the Tekken team on social media alleging they fell ill with vertigo and migraines after testing the alternative modes.
The video below illustrates the issue but please refrain from watching if you know or suspect you may have epilepsy, as some accessibility advisers believe it may cause Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP):
Fans and accessibility advocates alike have reached out to Tekken 8 director Katsuhiro Harada in a bid to have its colourblind options revised ahead of the game's release next month.
After videos and screenshots showcasing the fighting game's accessibility modes went viral over the festive period, colourblind players and accessibility advisers reached out to the Tekken team on social media alleging they fell ill with vertigo and migraines after testing the alternative modes.
The video below illustrates the issue but please refrain from watching if you know or suspect you may have epilepsy, as some accessibility advisers believe it may cause Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP):
The ESRB has rated Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door remake.
As spotted by the Gaming Leaks and Rumours subreddit community, the RPG has secured an E for Everyone rating from the North American rating board for its mild fantasy violence and mild suggestive themes, and there are "no interactive elements".
"This is an adventure role-playing game in which players help Mario rescue Princess Peach from an alien group," the website says. "As players traverse whimsical worlds, they interact with characters and engage in turn-/puzzle-based combat against paper creatures. Players use various attacks (e.g., boot stomp, hammer strike, fire balls) against cartoony enemies that disappear into stars and coins.
The ESRB has rated Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door remake.
As spotted by the Gaming Leaks and Rumours subreddit community, the RPG has secured an E for Everyone rating from the North American rating board for its mild fantasy violence and mild suggestive themes, and there are "no interactive elements".
"This is an adventure role-playing game in which players help Mario rescue Princess Peach from an alien group," the website says. "As players traverse whimsical worlds, they interact with characters and engage in turn-/puzzle-based combat against paper creatures. Players use various attacks (e.g., boot stomp, hammer strike, fire balls) against cartoony enemies that disappear into stars and coins.
Everyone's saying 2023 has been a stonking year for video games. To be honest dear reader, I don't think it's been my year. That might be because I've not had a huge amount of time to play loads outside of review duties and general life things, but there's only been, like, less than a handful of games that have truly commanded my attention.
One of said games comes backflipping in right at the tailend of this year: Astral Ascent. It's a 2D roguelike in the vein of Dead Cells, where you battle through stages, power-up, try and get as far as you can, inevitably die, reinvest your winnings, power-up permanently, then go again. It saddens me that I've not seen much excitement for the game elsewhere, so here I am with a little pudding for you. A little treat. Here comes the plane, nyaaaooownnn.
More details about an MMO based on Guerrilla's Horizon franchise have popped up online via two new job listings.
Video game researcher Kurakasis took to Twitter/X earlier today to detail "everything" they know to date about the upcoming game, including a rumour that it will be an "MMORPG to be precise". They also shared details of job listings that seem to confirm the game in development may be called "Land of Salvation".
"The game is now essentially confirmed to be in development, as an NCSoft employee posted a job listing on LinkedIn with a codename logo stylised similarly to the logo of Horizon games," Kurakasis said. "It's developed under the codename Project Skyline, with the initial codename being Project H."
More details about an MMO based on Guerrilla's Horizon franchise have popped up online via two new job listings.
Video game researcher Kurakasis took to Twitter/X earlier today to detail "everything" they know to date about the upcoming game, including a rumour that it will be an "MMORPG to be precise". They also shared details of job listings that seem to confirm the game in development may be called "Land of Salvation".
"The game is now essentially confirmed to be in development, as an NCSoft employee posted a job listing on LinkedIn with a codename logo stylised similarly to the logo of Horizon games," Kurakasis said. "It's developed under the codename Project Skyline, with the initial codename being Project H."
Taylor Swift has got a long list of ex-lovers: some rumored and some confirmed, and many become the subject of her songs. Taylor is no stranger to love and heartbreak and the tabloids love to remind her weekly! We have all Taylor Swift’s boyfriends listed in order right here from Joe Jonas to Travis Kelce.
"Bobby [Kotick]'s decisions made our games worse," a former Call of Duty programmer said on social media the same day Kotick completed his final day as CEO at Activision Blizzard.
"I worked on [Call of Duty] for two years as a programmer at Demonware. Bobby's decisions made our games worse," said Christina Pollock. "In my first month, it came out he threatened to have an employee killed. In the all-hands [all staff meeting] that followed, no one wanted to speak first. So I demanded his firing in front of everyone."
In a candid thread on Twitter/X, Pollock said: "I get that I am very loud and very annoying and that with my seniority and ease of other opportunities, that affords me certain protections and safety to do such things.
"Bobby [Kotick]'s decisions made our games worse," a former Call of Duty programmer said on social media the same day Kotick completed his final day as CEO at Activision Blizzard.
"I worked on [Call of Duty] for two years as a programmer at Demonware. Bobby's decisions made our games worse," said Christina Pollock. "In my first month, it came out he threatened to have an employee killed. In the all-hands [all staff meeting] that followed, no one wanted to speak first. So I demanded his firing in front of everyone."
In a candid thread on Twitter/X, Pollock said: "I get that I am very loud and very annoying and that with my seniority and ease of other opportunities, that affords me certain protections and safety to do such things.
The first volume of the manga retelling of the light novel Bungo Stray Dogs: Dazai, Chuuya, Age 15 is out now, courtesy of Yen Press, and it’s a fascinating exploration of Osamu Dazai and Chuuya Nakahara’s routes. Which means, fittingly enough, the best parts of this first volume are when we get to see these two Bungo Stray Dogs characters play off of each other.
Bungo Stray Dogs: Dazai, Chuuya, Age 15 starts with both characters at their very beginnings. Despite their ages, both are established individuals and known for their power Chuuya is head of a gang called Sheep. Dazai is a member of Port Mafia on his first assignment to investigate rumors regarding a reappearance of the former, deceased leader of the organization by the new leader Ogai Mori. (Mori happens to also be the man who killed him.)
A slide allegedly taken from a Sony presentation has revealed how many units some of the company's biggest first-party games have sold.
The slide – which notably excludes other Sony first-party titles, including Naughty Dog's The Last of Us series and Horizon Zero Dawn's sequel, Horizon Forbidden West – reveals the sale figures for several games released since 2017, including Marvel's Spider-Man (2018), God of War (2018), and Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales (2020), which have sold 18.9 million, 15.9 million, and 12.6 million copies in their first two years, respectively.
The same table, if true, also reveals that Horizon Zero Dawn (2017) sold 11 million copies, Gran Turismo Sport (2017) 7.8 million, Days Gone (2019) 7 million, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (2021) 3.9 million, and "Ghost Dir Cut" – Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut (2021) – 3.3 million copies.
A slide allegedly taken from a Sony presentation has revealed how many units some of the company's biggest first-party games have sold.
The slide – which notably excludes other Sony first-party titles, including Naughty Dog's The Last of Us series and Horizon Zero Dawn's sequel, Horizon Forbidden West – reveals the sale figures for several games released since 2017, including Marvel's Spider-Man (2018), God of War (2018), and Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales (2020), which have sold 18.9 million, 15.9 million, and 12.6 million copies in their first two years, respectively.
The same table, if true, also reveals that Horizon Zero Dawn (2017) sold 11 million copies, Gran Turismo Sport (2017) 7.8 million, Days Gone (2019) 7 million, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (2021) 3.9 million, and "Ghost Dir Cut" – Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut (2021) – 3.3 million copies.
This week, we continued taking stock of 2023 with looks back at how the Switch and the Steam Deck fared, our picks for the cream of the crop among shooters and role-playing games, and more juicy commentary on everything the year had to offer.
My Poison Princess is Still Cute is one of the romantic comedy manga series I’m most excited about at the moment, because the premise of this Yen Press series is so delightfully simple and goofy. Each chapter is this self-contained slice building on the relationship of former enemies married as part of a political agreement, but it works because each one is such a genuinely nice and affable person who does like their spouse.
Humans and demons used to be at war, with the immortal Loren and princess Raffy being the secret weapons of both armies. As part of a peace agreement, a political arrangement was made between the two of them. It was thought to be advantageous for many reasons. Part of which being that Raffy occasionally lets off a hazardous poison mist, and Loren revives even if it kills him.
January's PlayStation Plus titles have been confirmed: A Plague Tale: Requiem, Evil West, and Nobody Saves the World.
All three are playable on PS5, whilst the latter two – Evil West and Nobody Saves the World – are available to play on PS4, too.
All three games will be available from Tuesday, 2nd January and remain freely available to PS Plus subscribers until 5th February.
January's PlayStation Plus titles have been confirmed: A Plague Tale: Requiem, Evil West, and Nobody Saves the World.
All three are playable on PS5, whilst the latter two – Evil West and Nobody Saves the World – are available to play on PS4, too.
All three games will be available from Tuesday, 2nd January and remain freely available to PS Plus subscribers until 5th February.
Greetings all! Hope you're enjoying a Christmas with an appropriate degree of merriment. Me, I'm not. I'm angry. I'm fuming. Why? Because the RPS 2023 Advent Calendar is wrong. It's wrong, I tell you!
If all were just and right in the world, then it wouldn't have left out the following list of excellent games that came out this year! Plus a couple others that came out of early access in 2023 but which I sadly don't have time to write about in full. Trust me, The Last Spell and Against The Storm are both phenomenal games as well.
Anyway: in this handsomely decorated selection box, you'll find four of my honourable mentions for games I've enjoyed playing the most this year. If you have a hole in your Steam library, maybe these will help fill it over the Christmas break!