Big changes are coming to Call of Duty: Warzone, it seems, as Activision has released a cryptic transmission that alerts players to a "containment protocol alert" for the battle royale game.

The statement tells players to be on high alert for a "contagion warning" for the southeastern part of the battle royale map, Verdansk. Specifically, the message warns players about a breakout of some kind at the Vodianoy ship, along with locations east of it, including the Zordoya Prison Complex and the surrounding areas.

"You are recommended to exercise extreme caution: Reconnoitering within these newly confirmed anomalous zones may result in additional conflict, as speculative reports indicate secondary forces of unknown origin now residing both within the Prison Complex as well as the fully compromised Shipwreck points of interest.

Activision said players should be on the lookout for enemies who are described as "withered, exhibiting a cadaverous appearance, and lacking in contrastive cognizant function," which is surely a reference to zombies. "Should you encounter these anomalous hostiles, no quarter should be given. Subsequently, a fighting withdrawal, immediate exfil and subsequent fumigation is recommended," Activision said.

The statement wraps up by mentioning that the current "Containment Protocol" is limited to the southern zone of Verdansk's Sector 5. "Computer models expect the anomalous activities to cease shortly, and a conflagration is not expected," the statement says.

A Square Enix Spring sale started on the eShop and temporarily offers discounts on Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, SaGa, and Mana games.

The post Square Enix eShop Sale Discounts Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, and SaGa appeared first on Siliconera.

Square Enix announced it will debut the first episode of its very own Nintendo Direct-style digital event, known as “Square Enix Presents,” next Thursday, March 18.

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In the next Gamasutra Editorial Forum we welcome veteran mobile game designer Evan Losi to talk about how data-driven design can go beyond tracking product metrics, and also help make your games more engaging and fun. ...

Much of Destiny’s story exists anywhere but the main game. The version you get from playing through its campaign today is very different from the one that existed only a year ago, and it’s also very different from the one you’ll get having played Destiny for hundreds of hours, soaking up its lowkey ambient…

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THQ Nordic announced today that they've established a new studio to make Gothic Remake, a fancy modern take on the fantasy RPG from 2001. This is the do-over they first revealed with a 'playable teaser' in 2019, which they released supposedly to gauge whether it was worth continuing. Based in Barcelona, Alkimia Interactive actually started up in summer 2020, but now THQ Nordic are out here shouting about the paperwork being settled.

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Book 4 premieres on HBO Max on April 15

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The March Square Enix Presents will look at games and series like Marvel's Avengers, Tomb Raider, Life is Strange, and Outriders.

The post Square Enix Presents March Showcase Will Look at Avengers and Tomb Raider appeared first on Siliconera.

Life is Strange fans will get a glimpse of the series' next instalment as part of Square Enix's newly announced spring showcase event, which airs next Thursday, 18th March.

Proceedings get underway at 5pm in the UK/10am PDT, and Square promises 40 minutes of trailers and announcements. The world premiere of Life is Strange 3 (or whatever it ends up being called) is obviously the headliner, but there's quite a lot more besides.

There'll be another look at Outriders, for instance, ahead of its launch on 1st April, as well as another airing for Balan Wonderland, which releases a little sooner, on 26th March.

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Today Rabbit & Bear Studios had an update to share about its upcoming JRPG Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes.

First of all, the developers wanted to confirm that, despite the publishing deal with 505 Games, the game won’t be exclusive to any store on PC.

If you were concerned about Epic Games swooping in and yanking this away from Steam (as it happened to a few Kickstarted games in the past), it isn’t going to happen.

“In combing through the various backer comments, it’s clear that there is a great deal of concern about Eiyuden Chronicle being released exclusively on a PC platform. As mentioned previously, we have confirmed with any potential publishing partner, including 505 Games, that the game needed to be released on PC in a non-exclusive manner.

We know that some people have had bad experiences with previous Kickstarters, specifically due to this point, and we wanted to reiterate our commitment to releasing the game without exclusivity to any one platform.”

We also get the reveal of a playable character and an enemy.

Wonderful role-playing game Loop Hero has hit half a million copies sold.

That's in just the first week of going on sale on Steam.

Loop Hero has an average user playtime of 12 hours. Its brilliant soundtrack is the fastest-selling in publisher Devolver Digital's history.

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Square Enix just announced that it will be hosting a “Square Enix Presents” showcase next week.

It’ll be hosted at 10:00 am PDT, 1:00 pm EDT, 5:00 pm GMT or 6:00 pm CET depending on where you live. It’ll be hosted on Square Enix’s official Twitch and YouTube channels.

The event will last approximately 40 minutes and will present a brand new Life is Strange game, on top trailers, gameplay, and announcements of the following:

• Outriders, the high-intensity RPG-shooter set in an original dark and desperate sci-fi universe, coming out on April 1
• Balan Wonderworld, which arrives on March 26
• The ongoing celebration for the 25th anniversary of TOMB RAIDER
• Marvel’s Avengers, the story-driven, third-person action-adventure game from Crystal Dynamics
• Upcoming action shooter Just Cause Mobile
• New mobile game announcements from the award-winning Square Enix Montréal studio
• A look at a few of the whimsical games from Square Enix sister company TAITO

Below you can check out the logo revealed for the presentation,

Immortals Fenyx Rising is GameStop's featured Deal of the Day, and it's on sale for a really great price. Today only, you can snag Ubisoft's latest IP for only $25 on PS5/PS4, Xbox Series X/Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. Amazon is matching GameStop's price, but the cost will likely rise tomorrow at Amazon, too. The sale price even applies to the PS5-specific version of the game, which has already sold out once at Amazon and has since been restocked.

Immortals Fenyx Rising comes with a free next-gen upgrade to Xbox Series X or PS5. For Xbox users, there is only one edition to purchase, and it works on both platforms. PlayStation users can choose between a PS4 disc (upgrades to PS5) or the PS5 version, which is only compatible with PS5.

Immortals Fenyx Rising tells a lighthearted story about conquering Typhon and restoring the presence of the gods to the Greek mythology-inspired world. Fenyx can be played as either male or female, and throughout the adventure you acquire new upgrades that steadily make Fenyx quite powerful.

Bungie is preparing for a slew of new changes coming soon to Destiny 2 in the future, including a reversal on Sunsetting, transmog, crossplay, and so much more. What won't be changing is the inclusion of Vaulting. Vaulting is where the studio 'removes' certain aspects of the game (expansions, worlds, etc) in order to make room for new content. With the Forsaken DLC being vital to the current narrative surrounding The Crow, the confirmation that this expansion will be Vaulted in the future is a little surprising. 

In a recent interview with Eurogamer, Bungie general manager Justin Truman opened up about the studio's philosophy regarding Vaulting as well as what will be shelved in the future. One thing he mentioned is that aspects of Destiny 2 will not be cut in order of release. 

The skateboarding game Skater XL gets a big update today, March 11, with the introduction of the new Embarcadero Plaza map. For those unfamiliar, the Embarcadero is the famous waterfront plaza in San Francisco that is popular with skateboarders.

"When it comes to landmarks in skateboard history, you'd be hard pressed to find more hallowed ground than San Francisco's Embarcadero Plaza during the 1990's era," developer Easy Day Studios said in a post on the PlayStation Blog. "Every day, SF locals and skaters from across the globe would come to EMB to write new pages in the book of skate history daily on the red bricks, stairs, blocks, ledges to the infamous 'Gonz' Gap."

The Gonz Gap is named after skateboarding icon Mark "Gonz" Gonzalez, who is believed to be the first to ollie the gap and give it its name. You can find the gap above the "wave" wall on the map.

You can find the new map through Skater XL's mod browser. Additionally, Easy Day has introduced some new FTC gear for players to unlock via the mod browser on all platforms as an homage to San Francisco.

Although the initial announcement of the Embarcadero DLC was made on the PlayStation Blog, the DLC is also coming to Xbox and PC.

Brave Nine has The Legend of Heroes characters like Rean, Juna, and Lloyd in it now, thanks to a limited time event.

The post The Legend of Heroes Brave Nine Event Begins appeared first on Siliconera.

Square Enix Presents digital showcase streams next week with new game reveals

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In anime, the title of senpai is more than just a meme. It’s a title of endearment meant to signify one who came before, and one who strives to take care of those that will one day fill the same roll. Of course, some senpais are better than others when all is said and done, and that’s why we’ve compiled a list of the nine anime senpais we wish were looking out for us.

• A reveal of the next Life Is Strange series game

• Outriders

• Balan Wonderworld

• "The ongoing celebration for the 25th anniversary of Tomb Raider"

• Marvel’s Avengers

• Just Cause Mobile

• "New mobile game announcements from the award-winning Square Enix Montréal studio"

• "A look at a few of the whimsical games from Square Enix sister company Taito"

The creepy horror-adventure game Little Nightmares II has cleared one million sales in its first month. After recently getting into the original game in preparation for the sequel and ending up loving them both, it's nice to hear. If you enjoyed the panicked intensity and dread of Inside, add 'em to your list.

In a press release today, publisher Bandai Namco also confirmed that the "Little Nightmares franchise has now reached over five million players, a very important milestone for this western-lead franchise."

What's on deck for the series? We're for sure getting PS5 and Xbox Series X/S versions of Little Nightmares II this year, and if you're upgrading, you won't have to pay again. I also have to believe there will be DLC sooner than later – like the original game, there's great potential for side-stories here.

"We can't wait to share with you what's next in the Little Nightmares universe," the publisher said.

We can't talk about the future of Little Nightmares without acknowledging that the developer, Tarsier Studios, was added to Embracer Group's staggering lineup. That said, Bandai Namco owns this brand. Based on the early sales for Little Nightmares II, I have a feeling there will be a third game.

It can be dodgy whenever a series is handed off to a new team, but I'd be down for more.

Square Enix is launching a recurring online event called Square Enix Presents, a series that will showcase new games, updates, and news throughout the year. The first 40-minute show will take place on March 18 at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET on Square Enix's official Twitch and YouTube channels.

Headlining the event is the world premiere of Life Is Strange's next installment. Released in 2015, the original Life Is Strange took an episodic format and followed a protagonist with a time rewinding ability. Since then, Square Enix has released the prequel Life Is Strange: Before the Storm and the sequel Life Is Strange 2. The next Life Is Strange game that will premiere at Square Enix Presents will have a brand-new protagonist with a new power.

Square Enix has confirmed that it is holding its own showcase later this month called Square Enix Presents. The show itself is expected to be just over 40 minutes long and will include the world premiere of a new Life is Strange experience as well as Outriders, Marvel's Avengers, and more news. 

The Square Enix Presents showcase will go live on March 18 at 10 a.m. Pacific and one of the confirmed announcements is a brand new Life is Strange game. While details are reserved for the show, the company tells us that the latest adventure will feature an all-new protagonist with a strange new power. 

Also confirmed is new Outriders gameplay, a new look at Balan Wonderworld, a celebration for Tomb Raider, more about Marvel's Avengers, a Just Cause mobile game, and a few other sprinkled-in surprises. 

A very varied source of mythical recipes

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UK studio Silver Rain Games has celebrated its first anniversary by inking a publishing deal with EA. ...

Obsidian Entertainment has dropped a boat-load of information on The Outer Worlds’ next DLC expansion Murder on Eridanos, not least of which being a firm release date.

The information came via a new trailer streamed through the developer’s official YouTube channel on Mar. 11. The trailer offers a glimpse at the DLC’s opening cinematic, and concludes with the reveal that the expasion is set to launch on Mar. 17.

As for what the trailer for The Outer Worlds’ Murder on Eridanos DLC shows, it’s pretty straight-forward: A woman monologues on the lengths she went to in order to stop some criminals who killed her allies, all while marketing one of the more prominent Vodka brands in the star system.

The monologue is cut short, however, when an unknown assailant barges into her room. The woman reacts with shock, and before it’s shown who it is, a news broadcast reveals that the woman has been murdered; and that she was none other than Halcyon Hellen, a prominent spokesperson for Rizzo’s Spectrum Vodka and face of the company.

It’s then revealed that a special investigation will be conducted in order to determine who will become the new spokesperson for Spectrum, and maybe to find out who murdered Hellen in the process.

The full trailer can be viewed down below.

Microsoft's latest Steam release, Forza Horizon 4, had a strong start on Valve's PC storefront. Following its release on March 9, the racing game zipped up on the top-seller charts on Steam, while the peak concurrent user numbers for the title have been strong right out of the gate.

The game's Twitter account celebrated the achievement, saying, "Leave it to the Forza community to blow us away once again. Within our first 24 hours on Steam we are one of the most-played racing franchises on the platform. THANK YOU!"

For March 11, Forza Horizon 4 reached more than 20,000 peak concurrent users, according to Steam's own public data. This puts it at just outside the top 50 most popular games on Steam. Forza Horizon 4 remains in the top 10 for the best-sellers overall on Steam, according to the landing page on Steam's website. Perhaps less good news for Microsoft is that review scores from Steam users are currently listed as "mixed," after more than 3,000 user reviews.

Forza Horizon 4 is an older game, having originally released in 2018 on Xbox One and Windows PC. It's just the latest example of Microsoft giving an older game new life by bringing it to Steam.

The final The Outer Worlds DLC has been revealed with a satirical murder mystery on Eridanos. The final adventure is a massive pivot from the Peril Of Gorgon DLC, instead, Murder On Eridanos takes the game back to more light-hearted times. If you ignore the murder, the mystery, and creepy parasites. 

"Pour yourself a bowl of Purpleberry Crunch and grab a glass of the triple-distilled deliciousness of Rizzo's Spectrum Brown Vodka, because the next week's aetherwave serial of Murder on Eridanos is going to be a doozy," says Obsidian Entertainment about the latest expansion. A popular star has been slain and it's up to the player to become an investigator and take to the case like the professional they are. Shift through the suspects, find out who is guilty, and then nail them to the wall. Or arrest them. That works too. 

The new DLC arrives soon, dropping on March 17 for PlayStation, Xbox, and PC. The bad news? This is the final DLC and the adventure in Outer Worlds comes to a close. 

The oversize anthology is made by queer creators about queer characters

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Niantic is implementing a new referral system in Pokemon Go. The feature will first be tested in Australia before being rolled out to other parts of the world, and it'll dole out rewards when you refer new players to the game.

As Niantic explains on the official Pokemon Go blog, when you refer friends through the new system, both of you will receive rewards in the game such as Rare Candy, Incubators, and specific Pokemon encounters. The friends you refer can either be entirely new to the game or lapsed players who are returning after a while.

Niantic hasn't announced when the referral program will officially launch, but the studio says it will send out referral codes to players in Australia first as it tests out and fine-tunes the feature.

Mario Day may have been and gone but the party hasn't stopped at the Nintendo eShop where two of the mascot's top Switch games are now reduced by 35 per cent.

Both Super Mario Maker 2 and Paper Mario: The Origami King are now £32.49. It's around the biggest discount we usually see for first-party Switch games on the eShop.

Super Mario Maker 2 is the DIY-platformer that allows you to create your own devilishly difficult stages for other players to complete, or test yourself against those made by others. There's also a pre-crafted campaign that's well worth a playthrough by itself

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Texas' February 2021 weather resulted in the Borderlands 3 Director's Cut DLC release date being pushed back a month.

The post Borderlands 3 Director’s Cut Delayed Until April appeared first on Siliconera.

Celebrating a whole decade of Metro – oh my gosh, it's really been that long? – developer 4A Games has decided to give out free PC copies of Metro 2033 on Steam this week. It's free to keep for good.

All you need to do is claim the game by Monday, March 15 at 10:00 am Pacific.

In a fun twist, 4A Games is giving out the original version of Metro 2033 from 2010, not the Metro 2033 Redux release that showed up four years later – so if you ever wanted to go back, now's the time to act. Some fans prefer the distinct look and feel of the original over the glossed-up, optimized remaster.

Meanwhile, the rest of the series is on sale right now, including the most recent game, Metro Exodus. With the anniversary discounts, you can get the Redux titles for $3.99 each and Exodus for $13.59.

Ten years ago, I wouldn't have expected Metro to be where it's at. 4A Games has done well for itself.

Last month, the entirety of Texas ground to a halt after a colossal winter storm pushed the state’s cordoned-off power grid to the brink. Power and heat outages, as well as resulting food and water shortages, led many businesses to temporarily shut down. This included a large number of Texan video game studios. Of…

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An unknown EA employee is alleged to be selling FIFA 21 Ultimate Team cards worth hundreds or even thousands of dollars. The scandal has quickly been nicknamed "EAGate" and has prompted the company to issue a statement saying it has opened a probe.

Eurogamer reports that the messages, captured from WhatsApp, show the employee offering Icon card packages ranging from 750-1000 euros (roughly $840-1200). One package of Prime Icon Moments cards are even offered for 1700 euros ($2000). At one point the seller assures a potential buyer that there is no risk of being banned, but can't say why for "security reasons."

The messages appear to show the sale of a bundle of high-value cards going through and then showing up in the game shortly after.

Salim’s Silver Rain Games picked up by EA Originals label

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AMC Games just released the first official trailer there brand new game, The Magnificent Trufflepigs. According to the video, this indie title will be all about metal detecting, romance, and the beauty of British countrysides.

The unique narrative-driven game will place players in the shoes of a British man named Adam, who is set to be played by Doctor Who and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow star Arthur Darvill.

With the help of his trusty metal detector, Adam must dig up secrets and figure out just what the woman who is guiding him, named Beth, has up her sleeve.

The game’s official steam description describes the game as a first-person, romantic, metal-detecting game. The full description is below.

You play as Adam, a sharp-witted but compassionate man returning to his childhood village of Stanning. There he’ll help a woman named Beth on her mission to unearth a local treasure. As cracks begin to appear in Beth’s fairy tale plan for everything, you’ll delve into her history and discover all may not be as it seems. And you’ll have to choose how Adam responds to Beth as she faces her demons.