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Showing posts from May 8, 2022

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The 10 Best Sonic Games

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IGN UK Podcast #643: Doctor Strange in the Desperate Search for Seal Meat

Glen Schofield Teases The Callisto Protocol News Alongside a Creature Close-up

In celebration of Friday the 13th, founder and CEO of Striking Distance Glen Schofield has not only teased that news for The Callisto Protocol is on its way next week, but he also shared a terrifying close-up of one of the game's creatures. Schofield, who was also the creator of Dead Space, shared the news on Twitter for the game that is set in the universe of PUBG and is scheduled to be released on PC and consoles in 2022. If you don’t already follow @CallistoTheGame now might be a good time to start. Look for some news next week. Until then, here’s a closeup of one of the creatures from our world class character team. They’re incredible. Happy Friday the 13th! Get ready! pic.twitter.com/u9xDxJ4CbC — Glen A. Schofield (@GlenSchofield) May 13, 2022 "If you don’t already follow @CallistoTheGame now might be a good time to start," Schofield wrote. "Look for some news next week. Until then, here’s a closeup of one of the creatures from our world class charac...

Citizen Sleeper Offers Hope In the Midst of a Capitalist Space Hellscape

I’ve had a bad case of the post-Elden Ring blues lately. After 130 hours of non-stop FromSoft adventure, I was struggling to find another game that compelled me enough to do more than pick it up for an hour or two before sighing and putting it back down again. Then I played Citizen Sleeper, and ravenously devoured the entire thing in two days. Citizen Sleeper scratches the parts of my brain that loved Disco Elysium, but it’s both shorter and (despite its dystopia premise) gentler overall. You play as a Sleeper, an artificial vessel created by a mega corporation to work off a debt for a human being. While the human lies frozen in stasis somewhere else in the universe, their consciousness was transplanted into the Sleeper and forced to do awful manual labor under grim conditions. But that life massively sucked, so the Sleeper fled, arriving on a space station called the Eye in hopes of building a life of their own. Though not fully tabletop in the way, say, Divinity: Original Sin or...

Zenless Zone Zero Is a Hip Urban RPG From the Creators Of Genshin Impact

Genshin Impact developers HoYoverse have officially announced their latest ARPG titled Zenless Zone Zero, a brand-new urban fantasy HoYoverse IP set in a world in which contemporary civilization has been destroyed by a supernatural disaster known as the Hollows. Players in the game take on the role of a Proxy, a special professional who guides people in their exploration of Hollows. Players are tasked with helping them explore the Hollows, battle their enemies, and achieve their goals. In the process, they’ll come to learn more about their story and their place in it. “We would like to invite players to discover [New Eridu], the last shelter for urban civilization due to the calamity [Hollows]. Together with a group of distinctive partners, they will fight alongside each other and unravel the mysteries in this post-apocalyptic world,” HoYoverse says in a press release. In New Eridu, a post-apocalyptic metropolitan city, players will embark on an adventure with diverse characters ...

Master Chief Just Lost His Virginity In the Halo TV Series, and Fans Are Divided

Warning: this article contains some spoilers for Halo: The TV Series Episode 8! The live-action Halo series has made a number of significant changes to the established mythology of the games, and Episode 8 has ushered in what may be the biggest shake-up yet. Master Chief appears to have just lost his virginity. This is a pretty big departure from the Halo games, where John-117 is depicted as an ascetic super-soldier who only shows a sentimental attachment to his holographic companion Cortana, and has likely never had sex due to being kidnapped into Spartan programmer as a child. The series hasn't exactly followed that path over the course of Season 1, with Pablo Schreiber's Master Chief frequently removing his helmet and dealing with a surge of memories and emotions after encountering a Forerunner artifact. That artifact also happens to be the reason for John's sexual encounter in Episode 8. The series has introduced a brand new character in Charlie Murphy's M...

Dying Light 2's Story DLC Delayed to September

Dying Light 2's first story DLC has been delayed from early summer to September 2022. Developer Techland said in a statement that it simply needed more time in order to meet player expectations and deliver the expansion with "the absolute highest level of polish". It did reveal that another big content drop was on its way in June, however, as Techland will release the much-requested photo mode alongside a series of community events called "In the Footsteps of a Nightrunner". Dear Pilgrims, your feedback always has the highest priority for us, and we want to be honest and transparent with you. We will still need a bit more time to develop the first story DLC. It is now planned to be released in September. pic.twitter.com/5XNe1uIC9u — Dying Light (@DyingLightGame) May 12, 2022 The delayed story expansion is set alongside the main events of Dying Light 2 , with Techland saying it wants to mix up what players expect. It's also a practical move, as it a...

505 Games Announces a Showcase for Next Week

Control and Assetto Corsa publisher 505 Games has announced that its first ever digital showcase will take place next week, on Tuesday, May 17. The Spring 2022 showcase will start at 6am Pacific / 9am Eastern / 2pm UK / 11pm AEST on the publisher's YouTube channel and promises updates on previously announced titles in addition to "a surprise or two along the way". 505 Games didn't give any inclination as to how long the showcase would be, or what it would be reveal. We're hoping that it could include an update on the Control multiplayer spin-off that's already in the works . The publisher also has a sequel to Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night in development that was announced briefly in May last year and is therefore still due an official reveal. We also know that 505 Games is publishing a dark fantasy RPG from Metroid Dread developer MercurySteam, but this was only announced in December so may not be in any state to show yet. Two of 505's bigg...

Elden Ring Developer FromSoftware Could Be Used to Help Make Manga or Anime Game Adaptations

Elden Ring developer FromSoftware could be used to assist in the development of games based on manga and anime. FromSoftware's parent company is the Kadokawa Corporation, a huge Japanese firm with several entertainment brands under its umbrella, including magazines that publish Neon Genesis Evangelion, Cowboy Bebop, and other manga. Kadokawa's latest financial earnings , as spotted by ResetEra user Nightengale , revealed the corporation is planning to adapt some of its manga and anime into video games, with FromSoftware listed as one of the "game adaptation resources" it may use, alongside Spike Chunsoft (Jump Force) and Gotcha Gotcha Games (RPG Maker). It's unlikely the developer would be given an adaptation as its main project, however, given the success of Elden Ring and its other original IPs including Dark Souls and Bloodborne . It's also unclear which manga or anime franchises the Kadokawa Corporation is considering, but it said it's looki...

Overwatch 2: A Whole New Game for Tank Players

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On the surface, Overwatch 2 may not look that different from its predecessor – and in truth, when playing as many of the 33 assembled heroes, it doesn’t feel too different to play either. But that simply can’t be said for the nine tank members of the roster, for whom Overwatch 2 has made sweeping changes that allow for a more action-packed experience. It doesn’t just change the game for tank players – it changes Overwatch 2 as a whole. The most obvious difference from its predecessor is that Overwatch 2 is now a 5v5 game, not 6v6 – and it’s a tank slot that’s been removed from the team line-up. Naturally this means a lot more responsibility is placed on the broad shoulders of that single tank player. My Overwatch tank of choice is undoubtedly D.Va, the Korean teenager in a mobile, rocket-powered mech. If this were Overwatch 1, I’d feel guilty picking her as the sole tank due to the lack of protection I’d offer my teammates. In the original, tank heroes could be broadly split into ma...

Need for Speed Developer Criterion Absorbs a Codemasters Studio

Criterion Games has absorbed a part of fellow EA studio Codemasters to double down its development of a new Need for Speed. Codemasters' Cheshire studio - which most recently worked on Onrush - has spent the last few months developing a "close partnership" with, and is now officially a part of, Need for Speed developer Criterion. Announced on Codemasters' Twitter (below), the developer said the collaboration will "create the future of Need for Speed, forming one Criterion studio with two location hubs." We can confirm Criterion Games and the development team at Codemasters Cheshire are officially coming together to create the future of @NeedforSpeed , forming one Criterion studio with two location hubs. [1/3] — Codemasters (@Codemasters) May 12, 2022 It added: "This integration builds off the close partnership the two studios have developed over the past few months. Sharing common values and similar cultures, we strongly believe unifying the ...

StarCraft: Dark Horse's Zerg Brood Lord Statue is Disgustingly Amazing

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Dark Horse Direct continues to release new statues inspired by the ships of Blizzard's StarCraft universe. Their latest StarCraft replica depicts one of the most imposing and disgusting ships in the series - the Zerg Brood Lord. This statue features a detailed recreation of the devastating aerial siege unit from the StarCraft games, suspended above a Zerg Swarm-themed display base. The piece is sculpted by Gentle Giant Studios. The Zerg Brood Lord measures roughly 15 inches in width and length and stands 10 inches tall (with the ship itself measuring about 4 inches in thickness). The Zerg Brood Lord statue is priced at $349.99 and is limited to 500 units worldwide. The statue is currently available to preorder through the Dark Horse Direct website , with an estimated release window of November 2022 to January 2023. StarCraft isn't the only sci-fi gaming franchise receiving new collectibles from Dark Horse. The company recently unveiled a Mass Effect Reaper Sovereign sh...

Starfield and Redfall Delayed to 2023

Bethesda has announced that Starfield and Redfall have been delayed to "the first half of 2023". Announced by Bethesda on Twitter (below), no specific reasons were given for the delays, other than to say that the teams "want to ensure that you receive the best, most polished versions of them." The statement also promises that the first gameplay deep dives for both games will be released "soon" – and you can imagine that would come during the Xbox/Bethesda Summer Showcase on June 12. An update on Redfall and Starfield. pic.twitter.com/pqDtx26Uu6 — Bethesda (@bethesda) May 12, 2022 A follow-up from Starfield's Bethesda Game Studios simply says, "We can't wait for you to play Starfield, but we need some more time. We’re so thankful for all the support and encouragement and are excited to show you the game soon." Arkane followed up the tweet with a message from Redfall's director , Harvey Smith. "Here at Arkane Austin, w...

We Were Here Forever Review

Since 2017, Dutch developer Total Mayhem Games has been quietly working on the We Were Here series, a trilogy of cooperative-only puzzle games that puts us in the shoes of two explorers who find themselves trapped in castles, dungeons, snowstorms, deathtraps, and all other manner of escape rooms. The whole trilogy is a little uneven, but for the most part they’re all pretty good, especially since no other developer scratches this particular asymmetrical co-op puzzle itch quite like the We Were Here series. The latest, We Were Here Forever, is – to put it quite simply – an absolute glow-up. It’s gorgeous, with fantastic art direction that takes you from the familiar castle interiors to surreal dreamscapes, a spooky abandoned village, and much, much more. There are significant barriers to overcome to get the most out of We Were Here Forever, not the least of which are having to buy two $18 copies so you can play with a like-minded friend (unfortunately it’s not as generous as Hazeligh...

Will Buying a PS5 in 2022 Be Easier? - Beyond 749

On this week’s episode of IGN’s PlayStation podcast, Podcast Beyond!, host Jonathon Dornbush is joined by Jada Griffin to dive into all the latest and greatest in the world of PlayStation news and games. The duo dive into a breakdown of big takeaway from Sony’s earnings report, and what they mean for potential and current PS5 owners. We discuss Sony’s forecast for selling PS5’s in the next fiscal year, and how it would nearly double the number of PlayStation 5’s out there, meaning a lot more players could jump onto PlayStation’s latest console. We discuss our hopes and realistic expectations for when we might see these millions of more PS5s make it into the hands of players, what it may mean for this generation as a whole, and much more. Plus, we dig into PlayStation’s commitment to invest $300 million more into its first-party studios (not referring to PlayStation acquisitions), and what that might mean for the cadence and ambition of PS5 games being released. We discuss whether th...

Chrono Cross Remaster Contains Hidden Message From Original Director Confirming a Big Fan Theory

Fans of the Chrono series have clamored for a sequel for years, ever since the 2000 release of Chrono Cross posed even more questions about the Square RPG's universe. And while the March release of the Chrono Cross: Radical Dreamers Edition was just a remaster, not a new entry, it did contain a hidden snippet of new content from the original creator himself: Masato Kato. Spoilers Ahead for the Ending of Chrono Cross: Radical Dreamers Edition! Read at your own risk if you have not finished both Chrono Cross and the packed-in text-based adventure Radical Dreamers: The new content is small, subtle, and may not be an obvious find for most players. To access it, you need to first complete both Chrono Cross and the text-based adventure Radical Dreamers, obtaining at least one ending for both. Once you do, you'll need to go to the main menu of the Radical Dreamers Edition (where you select which of the two games you want to play) and choose to watch the credits. Watch them thro...

LEGO’s Horizon Tallneck Set Is Impressively Tall and Fun to Build

Between both of Aloy’s Horizon journeys, I’ve spent dozens of hours meticulously dismantling robotic foes big and small. Scanning for weakpoints, learning what parts make those creatures tick - and which parts will make them go boom - is one of the most thrilling aspects of Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West. So I gained a bit of newfound appreciation for these virtual technical marvels as, rather than tearing one apart, I got to construct one with PlayStation and LEGO’s collaboration, a Horizon Tallneck LEGO set. Coming in at 1,222 pieces and standing over a foot tall once fully built, the first LEGO set inspired by the Horizon universe offers a new perspective on these creatures, and gave me a newfound appreciation for how they’re assembled, even if it’s a brick-ified approximation. The set is a ton of fun to build and see come together as you carefully piece the Tallneck together, with a pretty adorable base, Aloy minifig, and Watcher mini-build to boot. It’s a design c...

EA Teases Four Games in 2023 Including a New Remake and Major IP

Electronic Arts offered its investors a sneak peek at what it's got cooking for 2023 today during its earnings report, including a planned "major IP" as well as an unannounced "remake." A slide on EA's Q4 2022 earnings presentation gives a look at its next four months of releases, with F1 22 in Q1, FIFA and Madden NFL in Q2, and Need for Speed and NHL in Q3. In Q4, which covers January through March of 2023, we get one named franchise: PGA Tour. But we also see four big, enticing unknowns: Major IP Partner Title Remake Sports Title It's not clear now exactly what any of these four are. The "Remake" invokes thoughts of the known Dead Space remake, but it's unlikely this is the case. EA both mentions in a footnote that all four games "have not yet been publicly disclosed," and Dead Space was officially announced last year . So it looks like we're getting a second remake of something in 2023. For the major IP, it...

PlayStation Is Putting $300 Million More Into First-Party Games, and Aiming for 'Multiple Platforms'

Sony is investing a further $300 million into its first-party PlayStation studios as a two-pronged strategy to grow its gaming business – alongside releasing games on "multiple platforms". Revealed in its latest earnings call , Sony made clear this investment is for developing software at existing studios - such as God of War's Santa Monica Studio or Horizon: Forbidden West's Guerrilla Games - and is separate to its acquisition plans. "We plan to increase software development expenses aimed at strengthening first-party software at our existing studios by approximately ¥40 billion [$308 billion]," it said. "Going forward we aim to grow the game business by strengthening our first-party software and deploying that software on multiple platforms." Sony didn't go into what platforms it means, but it likely refers to the joint PlayStation 4 and 5 release of games such as Spider-Man: Miles Morales and the incoming God of War: Ragnorok, in ad...

Nintendo Sold More Games Than Ever Before Last Year

Nintendo has announced that it sold 235 million games for Switch in financial year 2021 – the highest number sold in a single year in the company's history. In its Financial Year 2021 earnings report, the company explained that software sales – both for first-party and third-party games – rose by 1.8% year-on-year to 235.07 million units. Nintendo says this is "the highest annual software sales figure ever posted for a Nintendo platform to date." Switch hardware itself didn't fare quite as well by the incredibly successful console's high standards. Between them, the three Switch models sold 23 million units in FY 2021. While this is a huge number (by comparison, PS5 sold 11.5 million in the same period), it's a 20% drop on FY 2020. Nintendo seemingly puts the drop down to two factors: shortages of semiconductor components, and the lack of a game that drives hardware sales, in the way that Animal Crossing: New Horizons did for Switch in 2020. Pokémon ...

PS5 Misses Its 2021 Sales Target, But Aims for Its Strongest Year Yet

Sony's PlayStation 5 has now sold 19.3 million units, but fell short of its original FY 2021 sales target by 3.3 million. Despite the dip, Sony still expects to sell more units than ever before in the next year. Sony originally forecasted selling 14.8 million units of PS5 hardware in its second year on the market, but Sony revealed in its latest financial earnings results that it instead sold 11.5 million units. This matches the late adjustment that Sony made two months before the conclusion of the 2021-22 financial year, which lowered PS5 sales expectations to 11.5 million. As you'd expect, Sony puts the underperformance down to an ongoing difficulty in obtaining hardware components after global shortages. Despite missing its goal, Sony set its goal for FY 2022 (between April 2022 and March 2023) higher than ever before, and close to the first two years combined, at 18 million units. Sony's chief financial officer Hiroki Totoki said in the earnings webcast that...

American Vandal Creators' Esports Mockumentary Gets a First Trailer

Paramount+ has released the first trailer for Players, an upcoming League of Legends esports mockumentary from American Vandal creators Tony Yacenda and Dan Perrault. The trailer invites viewers into the world of competitive gaming by tagging along with a fictional League of Legends esports team as they set out to "pursue their first championship after years of close calls and heartache," though "to win it all, they will need their prodigy, a 17-year-old rookie, and their 27-year-old veteran to put their egos aside and work together." The veteran needs a win. The rookie needs to prove himself. The untold story of the greatest game ever played... at least in esports. The new original series #Players premieres June 16th, only on #ParamountPlus . pic.twitter.com/NfUdGr8Ofu — Paramount+ (@paramountplus) May 9, 2022 Players will premiere on June 16, exclusively on Paramount Plus. The series is being produced by CBS Studios in association with Funny or Die and h...

Long-Delayed Resident Evil Re:Verse May Actually Be On the Way

Resident Evil Re:Verse may still be on track for release in 2022, despite developer Capcom going completely silent on it following a series of delays. As shared by Gematsu on Twitter (below), the Google Stadia version of Re:Verse – the PvP game originally scheduled to arrive alongside Resident Evil: Village – has been rated by European ratings board PEGI. Though Capcom hasn't confirmed any release window except just "this year", a game being rated usually signifies that a relatively complete version has been presented and it therefore isn't too far from being released. Stadia version of Resident Evil Re:Verse was just rated in Europe: https://t.co/81wlUU8Gj0 The PS4, Xbox One, and PC versions were rated a year ago today. It lives...? pic.twitter.com/c3toZ0aFep — Gematsu (@gematsu) May 7, 2022 The PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC versions were rated exactly one year earlier (on May 7) but this was also the release date of Resident Evil: Village, and Re:Ve...

EVE Online Developer Is Making Yet Another FPS Set in the Sci-Fi Universe

EVE Online developer CCP Games is working on another first person shooter set in its sci-fi universe, after its first two attempts failed to break through. As reported by PCGamesN , CCP Games announced at EVE Fanfest 2022 that the shooter was already in development and, while it's not ready for a full reveal yet, a piece of concept art (below) was shown. "We recognise that a hard sci-fi FPS game set in the Eve Universe is a very popular concept, and CCP is committed to offering an innovative multiplayer shooter with atmospheric visuals," the developer said in a statement. "We want to show you rather than tell you how we have evolved the concept, and we’re looking forward to doing so when the time comes to reveal the game." The game is being developed at CCP Games ' London office, rather than its main Reykjavik, Iceland-based studio (where its Fanfest took place). Little else is known about the game but CCP Games has had a mixed experience when develo...

Scientists Invent Mouth Haptics for VR, Including Water, Wind and... Spiders

Scientists have invented mouth haptics for VR that allow users to feel different virtual experiences with their mouths. These include feeling the wind on your face while riding a bike, taking a sip from a fountain and feeling the water on your lips... and covering yourself with spiders that you'll feel running in and around your mouth. As reported by IFL Science (and spotted by PC Gamer ), scientists from Carnegie Mellon University’s Future Interfaces Group added ultrasonic transducers to a Meta Quest 2 (previously Oculus) that focus acoustic energy on the mouth. When partnered with virtual reality demos, this essentially means that users will feel different sensations on their lips, teeth, and tongue depending on what they're doing in-game. The mouth haptics are programmed to do different things depending on the situation, including single impulses (taps), pulse trains (multiple taps in a row), swipes in the x, y, and z directions (moving along, down, and towards your ...

The New York Times Pulled Today's Wordle Answer

The New York Times has pulled today's Wordle answer for some users, as it was unintentionally "closely connected to a major recent news event". Today's Wordle solution for some users will be revealed in the rest of this article. "At New York Times Games, we take our role seriously as a place to entertain and escape, and we want Wordle to remain distinct from the news." The word "fetus" was scheduled to be today's word more than a year ago, but The New York Times changed it last week to something different. That's because it's a word that will remind many of last week's proposed overturning of the Roe vs. Wade legal ruling, which secured abortion rights across the U.S. Users who haven't refreshed their browser since the update will still be given the "fetus" answer, but The New York Times' editorial director for games, Everdeen Mason made clear this choie of word was purely a coincidence. "At New York Ti...