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Marvel's Avengers Developer Details Community Challenges and Cosmetics

marvel's avengers, crystal dynamics, square-enix, playstation 4, xbox one, pc, google stadia

In a report from the PlayStation Blog, Marvel's Avengers developer Crystal Dynamics details different community challenges and cosmetics that players can expect.

Starting with community challenges, Marvel's Avengers will have different challenges each month with different goals that have to be achieved. The point of the challenges is to get everyone to work together in order to earn rewards.

Moving onto cosmetics, players will come across different cosmetics that range from common to legendary. These cosmetics are spread throughout the game's story missions and can be acquired in marketplaces and by completing certain puzzles among other things. Additionally, cosmetics don't offer any additional perk during gameplay.

With the game releasing next month, we've gotten a ton of news this week. Spider-Man will be added to the game in 2021 but as a PlayStation exclusive. This version of Spider-Man will be different from Insomniac Games' version and he'll be the only platform exclusive character. In addition to him being PlayStation exclusive, the PS Blog mentions that players experiencing the game on PS4 will get 30-day exclusive access to legendary outfits, emotes, epic takedowns, and more. Besides exclusives, it's been announced that Hawkeye will be the first hero coming to the game post-launch.

If you're interested in seeing Marvel's Avengers in action, the beta is starting this weekend for PS4 players that preordered the game. From there, more beta weekends will happen from August 14-16 and the 21-23 for every PS4 player. DualShockers' own Logan Moore got to check the beta out and wrote a preview on it.

Marvel's Avengers launches on September 4 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Google Stadia, and PC. It will also be available on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X when both consoles launch. You can watch a video below of DualShockers' own Logan Moore and Mario Rivera sharing their thoughts on the beta below.

The post Marvel's Avengers Developer Details Community Challenges and Cosmetics by David Gill appeared first on DualShockers.

Elder Scrolls Online is Coming to Next-Gen Consoles

The Elder Scrolls Online

Elder Scrolls Online is a mainstay of Bethesda's output. Ever since its release in 2014, it's appeared front and center in Bethesda's marketing and output and received notoriously long sections in their E3 press conferences. Now, it's joining DOOM Eternal as a pillar of Bethesda's presence on next-gen consoles. Originally announced in a blog post on the Elder Scrolls Online website, the increasingly popular MMO is coming to Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5.

Based on the wording used in this blog post and the post that announced that DOOM Eternal would also be launching on Series X and PS5, it seems like both games will likely be playable on the next-gen consoles at launch. The blog post announcing this release says, "We also plan to support backward compatibility. What does this mean, exactly? We're working hard so that when the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 launches, if you are a PS4 or Xbox One player, you can continue playing with your same accounts via backward compatibility on your respective next-gen consoles without interruption or loss of progress–same characters, servers, everything!"

The Elder Scrolls Online elsweyr

Not only does this announcement promise full cross-gen progression and saves, but it also announces that Elder Scrolls Online would also be receiving an upgrade for the upcoming consoles. Bethesda hasn't announced any dates for the upgrade, let alone any footage or screenshots. At this point, it's safe to assume that the game will run and/or look better thanks to a visual overhaul from the ESO team.

In the announcements for the upgrades, Bethesda also hinted at more announcements to come throughout the weekend in their QuakeCon At Home event that's replacing Quake Con proper this year. The biggest reveal from Quake Con's temporary replacement so far is the announcement that DOOM Eternal's first content-based DLC will be getting more details at Gamescom Opening Night Live.

The post Elder Scrolls Online is Coming to Next-Gen Consoles by Charlie Wacholz appeared first on DualShockers.

New Avengers Trailer Touts Advantages of Playing on PlayStation

Crystal Dynamics' upcoming game, Marvel's Avengers, has seen a lot of support from Sony in the past week or so. Sony and Crystal Dynamics announced that Spider-Man would be coming to the game exclusively on PlayStation as downloadable content following the game's rapidly approaching launch in September.

And today, Sony uploaded a trailer for the upcoming superhero crossover to their YouTube channel boasting some of the advantages that come with playing the game on PS4 and later PS5.

One such "PlayStation Advantage" includes early access to the closed beta, which allows players who preordered the game to play the closed beta a week before people who preordered on other platforms. Another one of the trailer's talking points is "exclusive community challenges," which haven't been given many hard details, but considering we've seen many games like this, it's certain to be comparable to other challenges already offered in the game.

Along with early access to the beta, Crystal Dynamics is also offering PlayStation users early access to the game's legendary outfits. While the trailer shows a variety of different outfits for the team of heroes, there's no indication about how many of the game's outfits will be accessible early, or for how long they'll be exclusive to PlayStation.

Among the advantages of playing the game on PS4 that were mentioned in the trailer, Sony reiterated that Spider-Man would be in the game and that he'd only be playable on PlayStation. This feels particularly tone-deaf for the market leader, especially considering the announcement that the web-slinger would be exclusive to their platform was met with widespread disappointment and people calling the move anti-consumer.

Aside from its 2021 release date, neither Sony nor Crystal Dynamics have given any information on what exactly the Spider-Man DLC will entail or how much it will cost.

The post New Avengers Trailer Touts Advantages of Playing on PlayStation by Charlie Wacholz appeared first on DualShockers.

Dr. Disrespect Says He Still Doesn't Know Why Twitch Banned Him, Nets Over 500K Concurrent Viewers in Return Stream

After over a month of being away from streaming altogether after being banned from Twitch, Dr. Disrespect made his return today on YouTube and answered some of the lingering questions that have been hanging in the air.

Within the opening 20-minutes of the stream, Dr. Disrespect, whose real name is Herschel "Guy" Beahm, addressed the ban from Twitch. Promising that he was being completely honest, Disrespect claimed that Twitch still has not given him a definitive reason for why he was booted off of the streaming platform. He also declined to say too much about the situation, potentially warning that there could be legal ramifications if he said anything that he shouldn't.

The "Doc" then went on to thank fans for all of their support over the past month. He legitimately seemed emotional when expressing this sentiment, and went on to say that his conscience is clear and he's happy with where he's at right now.

As for the stream itself, Dr. Dirsrespect's return amassed quite the following. While the stream is still ongoing at the time of this writing, viewership peaked at over 510,000 concurrent viewers, which is mind-boggling. As of this publishing, the stream, which can be found above, is still seeing a concurrent count above 450,000.

Whether or not the truth regarding Dr. Disrespect's ban from Twitch ever comes about, for Beahm himself, he seems to be returning to the daily streaming grind via YouTube moving forward. While he might not end up being partnered with the platform, Disrespect's audience seems to have already made the transition with him.

The post Dr. Disrespect Says He Still Doesn't Know Why Twitch Banned Him, Nets Over 500K Concurrent Viewers in Return Stream by Logan Moore appeared first on DualShockers.

Injustice Developers Might Reveal a New Title at DC FanDome as Ed Boon Will Attend the Show

Injustice 3

Warner Bros. is going to hold a big online convention on August 22nd, featuring the company's latest products including movies, TV series, and video games. While Suicide Squad is the only game that has officially been teased for an announcement at the event yet, it seems Nether Realm Studios, the team behind Injustice series, will also have a new presentation as Ed Boon will be appearing somewhere in the show.

Thus far, Mortal Kombat and Injustice are the two major franchises that Nether Realm has been working on over the past years. The studio delivered Mortal Kombat 11 in Spring last year and released its first expansion, Aftermath, later in May 2020.

Ed Boon's appearance at DC FanDome was revealed in a brief teaser of the event and then confirmed by himself on Twitter. His attendance in the event couldn't be related to Mortal Kombat 11 since the show is a DC-focused stream that will only deliver updates about the products set in the DC universe. Given that, most of the fans assume that the studio head will probably reveal the third entry from the Injustice series, which is a fighting franchise featuring all the popular characters from DC Comics.

After releasing the post-launch expansion of Mortal Kombat 11, Nether Realm is probably now focused on its next big project which will likely target the next-gen platforms. With the incredible success of Injustice 2, it wouldn't be surprising if we get to see the announcement of Injustice 3 as the next upcoming title from Ed Boon and his team.

Recently, it was rumored that AT&T, the parent company of Warner Bros. Interactive is considering selling its gaming division to another company while keeping the rights for the projects based on DC Comics and other brands that belong to WB. While no deals have been done yet, it seems the gaming projects would be affected by the decision as all the WB internal studios are working on their next-gen titles.

The post Injustice Developers Might Reveal a New Title at DC FanDome as Ed Boon Will Attend the Show by Mehrdad Khayyat appeared first on DualShockers.

Remedy Says It's Already Working on Next Game that Will Share the Same Universe as Alan Wake and Control

Remedy just yesterday revealed the AWE expansion for Control and it confirmed that Alan Wake himself, the main protagonist from one of the studio's most popular games ever, will be appearing in the DLC. While this crossover has been teased for quite some time now, it seems as though the shared universe that Alan Wake and Control both reside within isn't stopping here.

In a new blog post over on Remedy's website today, the studio talked about the AWE expansion and what it means for the future. Remedy explained that for over a decade, it has slowly planted seeds to have some of its titles later be connected to one another. "Each game is a stand-alone experience, but each game is also a doorway into a larger universe with exciting opportunities for crossover events," the blog post explained.

AWE marks the first time that Remedy has decided to fully bridge the gap between two of its games, but it also won't be the last. Likely the most vital piece of information that Remedy provided today came in the confirmation that the developer is already working on its next game, which is also set in this RCU (Remedy Connected Universe). "We're already hard at work on a future Remedy game that also takes place in this same universe," Remedy said.

The idea that Remedy is now creating a full-blown shared universe is quite enticing, but it could be a few years before we actually see what the studio's next game ends up becoming. Considering that it is still working on Control in addition to the campaign for CrossfireX, the next game from Remedy likely might still be pretty far away from releasing.

That said, AWE seems to be providing our first look into what this future entry could be related to. Will it be a direct sequel to Control or Alan Wake? Or will it be a new IP altogether that just happens to tie-in with these properties? Hopefully, the forthcoming add-on expansion teases what Remedy could be cooking up for the future.

As for Control: AWE itself, the DLC is set to release on August 27 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Remedy will also be showing off the first 15-minutes of AWE next week via a new live stream, if you're interested in checking it out prior to launch.

The post Remedy Says It's Already Working on Next Game that Will Share the Same Universe as Alan Wake and Control by Logan Moore appeared first on DualShockers.

PS5 — What We Know So Far About Sony's Next-Gen Console

With the sun setting on the PS4 and Xbox One, the next-generation line of systems is finally almost upon us. Alongside the Xbox Series X, this holiday season will also see the release of the PS5 as the newest member of Sony's PlayStation family of consoles. While information on the long-awaited system was quiet for most of this year, last month finally saw Sony lift back the curtain on what to expect from the PlayStation 5, including several of its upcoming games and exclusives, its features, and the final design of the system itself.

In the lead-up to the PS5's debut this holiday season, we're taking a look at everything that we know about the PS5 so far, from the console's specs, to what games are coming to the system in terms of exclusives and third-party releases, and more. Obviously there are some major details we don't fully know just yet about the system like its price and release date, but as holiday 2020 draws near, we'll likely see the full picture of Sony's next-gen console sooner rather than later.

PS5 Close up

PS5 Console Specs

Even before we saw the system itself last month, Sony had released some information earlier this year on the technical specs that are going into its next-generation system. Led by Sony's lead system architect and ASMR master Mark Cerny, the PS5 already looks to be a major leap in terms of technical achievements from the previous generation of consoles, with a breakdown of its most notable specs from Digital Foundry:

  • CPU: 8x Zen 2 Cores at 3.5GHz (variable frequency)
  • GPU: 10.28 TFLOPs, 36 CUs at 2.23GHz (variable frequency)
  • GPU Architecture: Custom RDNA 2
  • Memory/Interface: 16GB GDDR6/256-bit
  • Memory Bandwith: 448GB/s
  • Internal Storage: Custom 825GB SSD
  • IO Throughput: 5.5GB/s (Raw), Typical 8-9GB/s (Compressed)
  • Expandable Storage: NVMe SSD Slot
  • External Storage: USB HDD Support
  • Optical Drive: 4K UHD Blu-ray Drive

The key technical feature that Sony has highlighted for the PS5 is its custom solid state drive, which is aiming to give developers a significant leg up in terms of loading assets in-game and a more seamless gameplay experience for players with drastically reduced or no in-game loading times. Likewise, the system's GPU also features over 10 teraflops of power behind it, with the system also confirmed to support more intensive technical features such as ray tracing.

The system's CPU features a custom chipset to support 3D audio, allowing for a more immersive aural experience while playing, such as giving the player a clearer indication of where enemies are in an environment, and more. Sony has also confirmed that the PS5 will support the PlayStation VR headset, though it seems likely as well that the system will get a new iteration of PSVR for this generation.

PlayStation 5, DualSense

The DualSense Controller

Alongside the console itself, one of the biggest changes from past PlayStation consoles for the PS5 is its new controller called the DualSense, which was officially revealed back in April. Shifting away from the DualShock branding that has defined Sony's last 4 iterations of controllers, the DualSense controller is aiming to be something a little different from past PlayStation controllers.

From a quick glance, the most obvious change with the DualSense controller is that it's a bit bigger than its predecessor, the DualShock 4, with the controller's design a little closer to the style of the Xbox One controller. Likewise, the lightbar that was present on the top of the DualShock 4 controller has instead been shifted to the center underneath the touchpad, giving it a more stylized glow around it.

Some of the biggest new features of the controller that have been highlighted by Sony aim to give the player a more immersive experience while playing. In an official video released by Sony for the DualSense controller, the video gives a look at its haptic feedback and adaptive triggers, along with its built-in motion sensor.

However, the overall layout of the controller is still largely the same as the DualShock 4, with its analog sticks close together and the traditional d-pad and button placements of the DualShock controllers. The center of the controller once again features a touchpad, and to the left and right of it are the buttons for taking in-game screenshots and videos and the options button. The DualSense controller also has a built-in speaker between the analog sticks and the PlayStation button, presumably used to return players to the system's main menu screen. Like the DualShock 4, the DualSense controller also has a plug at the bottom for players to use a headset or headphones while playing to listen to in-game audio or chat with friends.

PS5 PlayStation 5

What is the price?

The price is still a major unknown right now for the PS5, as Sony has not officially confirmed a price point for the next-gen system. However, some speculation (and general predictions by games media/the industry as a whole) have generally put the system within the ballpark of $399-$599. Sony themselves have seemed unsure of what the exact price of the system will be, as reports have signaled that the system has come in higher than expected to produce and manufacture. However, assuming that the system is launching within the next 5-6 months, Sony will have to share the price point at some point in the near future, with rumors indicating that pre-orders for the system will likely go live in the near future.

As shown in the company's PS5: The Future of Gaming event in June, Sony has revealed that there will be two SKUs for the PS5 when it arrives later this year: one version with a physical disc drive, and a Digital Edition that will forego physical media entirely. While Sony has been pushing more towards digital game sales in the past few years with the PS4, the company seems more intent on trying to lean more on an all-digital future, but still providing the option to play physical games for those that want it.

The introduction of two SKUs for the PS5 will likely have an influence on what the price of the PS5 will wind up being between the Digital Edition and the iteration of the system with a disc drive. Presumably, the PS5 Digital Edition will likely be cheaper than the version with a disc drive as a way to incentivize consumers to go all-digital with the next-gen system. At the moment, my best guess is that the Digital Edition of the PS5 will run for $499, while the version with a disc drive will be either be $549 or $599.

How big is the console?

This is yet another unknown at the moment, but based on speculation and some rough mockups on social media, the PS5 might be a little larger than we might expect, especially compared to the PS4. Using the system's disc drive as a rough basis to estimate the size, many mockups have surfaced online that give us a rough idea of what to expect from the PS5 in terms of its size. A listing from Amazon Germany for the system also may have revealed the PS5's weight at 4.78 kg (about 10.5 lbs), but this hasn't been officially confirmed just yet.

Compared to this generation's systems and its next-gen competitor, the Xbox Series X, the PS5 seems to be a much heftier system than we've seen in the past, with its unique design emphasizing its height. We know for sure that the system can be placed both upright and horizontally, but based on these early projections, you might want to start thinking about how you're going to house Sony's new console in your home entertainment center.

The Last of Us Part II

Does the PS5 feature backward compatibility?

For the PS5, backwards compatibility with PS4 games has been confirmed, but not yet elaborated on what it entails and if that will extend to earlier PlayStation consoles. Earlier this year, Sony detailed that the PS5 at launch would support backwards compatibility with around 100 of the most popular titles on PS4 (in terms of playtime), and that the system would eventually support the "overwhelming majority" of the system's current library.

For now, it seems like backwards compatibility will be limited to just PS4 titles (leaving out the PS3, PS2, PS1, PS Vita, and PSP), and that new titles will seemingly be rolled out like Microsoft did for Xbox 360 and Xbox titles with the Xbox One. Likewise, Sony also announced that new PS4 titles that are submitted for certification after July 13, 2020 will be required to support compatibility with the PS5, indicating we'll likely see some cross-gen titles later this year (and beyond) between the PS4 and PS5.

Exclusives and third-party games coming to the PS5

Sony's PS5 reveal event in June gave us a much clearer idea of what games we can expect to arrive for the PS5 when it launches later this year. The biggest titles that were formally revealed for the PS5 include two new games by Insomniac Games (Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart), the long-awaited remake of Demon's Souls by Bluepoint Games, Horizon Forbidden West, and many more. In addition to the line-up of first-party games that were revealed, several major third-party titles were also confirmed for the system such as Resident Evil: Village, Pragmata, Assassin's Creed Valhalla, and Hitman III, alongside new indie titles like Bugsnax, Goodbye Volcano High, Oddworld: Soulstorm, and more.

Below, you can find a list of the PS5 games that have been confirmed so far from the June reveal event and when we can currently expect them:

  • Astro's Playroom (Holiday 2020)
  • Bugsnax (Holiday 2020)
  • Deathloop (Holiday 2020)
  • Godfall (Holiday 2020)
  • Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales (Holiday 2020)
  • NBA 2K21 (Holiday 2020)
  • Ghostwire: Tokyo (2021)
  • Grand Theft Auto V (2021)
  • Goodbye Volcano High (2021)
  • Hitman III (2021)
  • Horizon Forbidden West (2021)
  • Resident Evil: Village (2021)
  • Solar Ash (2021)
  • Stray (2021)
  • Pragmata (2022)
  • Demon's Souls (TBD)
  • Destruction Allstars (TBD)
  • Gran Turismo 7 (TBD)
  • Jett: The Far Shore (TBD)
  • Kena: Bridge of Spirits (TBD)
  • Little Devil Inside (TBD)
  • Oddworld: Soulstorm (TBD)
  • Project Athia (TBD)
  • Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (TBD)
  • Returnal (TBD)
  • Sackboy: A Big Adventure (TBD)

PlayStation 5 PS5

When will the PS5 launch?

As of this writing, Sony is still being coy with the exact release date of the PS5 and when it will arrive. Right now, the only firm answer we have is that the system will arrive in holiday 2020, so expect it sometime within the October – December timeframe. At this point, November would seem like the most likely candidate, given that both the PS3 and PS4 also launched in November, and Sony will likely want the system to launch within Black Friday and the holiday shopping season. Along with the recent delay for Cyberpunk 2077 from September to mid-late November, the anticipated title's new release date has fueled some speculation that both the PS5 and Xbox Series X should arrive by then.

The post PS5 — What We Know So Far About Sony's Next-Gen Console by Ryan Meitzler appeared first on DualShockers.

Need For Speed Prototype Gameplay Footage May Have Been Leaked Online

Need For Speed 2021

As it was announced in June this year, the next Need For Speed title will be targetting next-gen platforms and it will be developed by Criterion Games after lending the series to Ghost Games studio for nearly a generation. Aside from brief footage from the game that was revealed during the EA Play 2020 event, we haven't seen anything new about the game officially yet. But recently, some early gameplay footage has been leaked online which is rumored to be related to the upcoming Need For Speed.

While nothing has been confirmed about it yet and the build looks to be a very early build of the game, it still provides some basic information about the next-gen Need For Speed title that might be interesting for the fans of the series. As the footage reveals, Need For Speed 2021 will probably be an open-world racing set in an unknown city with urban areas. While the footage doesn't represent the final visuals and environment of the game, it leaks one of the cars appearing in the game and reveals the early version of car physics and handling.

With the start of the current generation, Ghost Games took the helm for the NFS series and delivered Need For Speed Rivals as the first current-gen entry of the franchise. That being said, the series faced a big breakdown with the following iterations. Both Need For Speed 2015 and Need For Speed Payback failed in satisfying the fans with enjoyable and varied gameplay.

With Need For Speed Heat, Ghost Games made a progress after a while in bringing an exciting arcade racing, but it seems Electronic Arts didn't trust the studio for the next generation as they handed the franchised to its previous developers once again.

There's no release date yet for next-gen Need For Speed but it will probably be available for Xbox Series X, PS5, and PC.

The post Need For Speed Prototype Gameplay Footage May Have Been Leaked Online by Mehrdad Khayyat appeared first on DualShockers.

Onward VR Quest Review — Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

onward

There's a minute left to go on the clock. A single bead of sweat is dripping down my brow. I reach over my shoulder and produce a tablet computer with a seven-digit code listed in bold print, smack dab in the center of the display. Aside from the rhythmic beeping of the objective sitting before me, I hear nothing at all. Just the cold, dead air on a quiet summer's eve.

My hands shake noticeably to the beat of my incantations: "7531122. 7531122. 753112." A single gunshot ricochets off of a nearby wall and I leap out, landing flat on my stomach in the middle of my living room carpet. Of course, by this point, it's already too late. A second round lands squarely in my avatar's head, ending the match.

This is Onward, the most prominent hardcore military-sim in VR, and certainly one of the tensest games I've ever played— in, or out of virtual reality.

Onward VR has been a staple of multiplayer PC VR gaming for at least four years now, and with patch 1.8 and Onward's subsequent release on the Oculus Quest, it's certainly more accessible than it's ever been. It's unfortunate then that it's taken the development team at Downpour Interactive so much of its time to make this port happen, only to revert the PC version of Onward VR backward into a state that is, technically, far closer to its original 2016 release while ditching the sweat-inducing hyperrealism that it had slowly worked in over the past four years.

Don't get me wrong, however. As of this moment, the multiplayer Onward experience is exactly what I described in that first paragraph; tense, even terrifying at times, and bound to make you leap out of your skin— or at least out of your play area.

The mode that I've described above is Onward's bread and butter, Uplink, which pits two teams of five players against one another; one team defends an objective while the other team attempts to either kill each of the defenders or hack into the uplink by manually tapping in and setting off a seven-digit code right next to its access point. There are no respawns, maps are designed with several lanes and many open areas (and complementary vantage points), and it only takes one well-placed round to end an opponent's life or vice versa. This is still as fantastic and gut-wrenching as it has ever been, regardless of whether you're on a PC VR headset or an Oculus Quest, but thoroughly downgraded graphics and effects add a level of unbalance that I delve into further down below.

That's not the only thing to see in Onward VR, which now boasts plenty of fun game modes and even a modding framework, which is something I'd wanted to see for a long time since Onward's original release. Social (read: casual) game modes include Spec Ops, a sort of cat-and-mouse between super speedy knife-wielding Volk and limited ammo-clutching MARSOC survivors, and classics like Gun Game and One in the Chamber, all of which are intense, well-balanced, and still very fun to play. And if you simply want to mess around with one of Onward's many extremely varied and unique weapons or tactical toys, there's always the Shooting Range, which now features moving targets and a very cool multi-story killhouse-style practice course.

Speaking of Onward's weapons, the 'gun feel' has always been one of its strongest points. The rattle and simulated kickback of each weapon feels unique and personified, and adding to the fact that you need to literally operate and reload each weapon by hand with VR controls, there's a satisfying learning curve associated with each weapon and tool. Even still, the PC version has experienced something of a backslide in its move from 1.7 to 1.8.

Dynamic lighting has been added with the new update, giving characters and weapons a more pronounced feel meanwhile stripping them of their subtlety in a way that doesn't seem appropriate for the darker, bleaker visual tone that Onward was previously characterized by. It doesn't help that night vision goggles haven't quite caught up with this new system, making them extremely difficult to see through clearly when moving through certain night-time locations. Granted, weapons are still far punchier in the most recent PC version than in the Quest version, which features overly simplified graphics and sound effects to the point where its visuals and sounds convey something far closer to a VR-ified port of Nintendo 64's GoldenEye 007 than a modern VR game.

Further, Quest players have an unfair advantage in some cases where areas of a map are better lit or less detailed at close-range on the Quest version— whereas PC players have an unfair advantage at long range overall— which gives Onward's crossplay multiplayer an asymmetric feel, and not in a good way. All of the maps now have issues with pop-in and objects appearing and/or disappearing at weird angles. It's often too dark to clearly see the models of your own weapon and armor loadout in the lobby tent on the Quest version of Onward VR. This is all just completely jarring and weird, given how graphically tight things were even as recently as 1.7.

Multiplayer still works as well as it ever has, however, and it's to the latest version's benefit that thanks to crossplay I can now find tons of open online game matches at a single time, rather than the minuscule 10-20 that I had often found during peak hours before the update. I'm also pleased to note that there is finally an option to mute other players inside of the lobby tent, the location where you choose your loadout. There's been word of some match-ending bugs here and there, but I've found nothing to jar me out of any online matches in a way that's been noticeable. What has been noticeable, on the other hand, is the greatly reduced microphone sound quality. This is a huge issue in a multiplayer-focused game where clear communication is so important.

As usual, the single-player continues to be Onward's weakest point. Enemy AI is still as rough as ever, with enemies just rushing you in one congealed mass or magically auto-aiming at you from across the map, mowing you down before you can get your bearings. Weirdly enough, they've added the option to face off against 200 or so AI opponents at once, which is something I tried (and immediately regretted trying) after I learned that the AI is still as broken as it's been for the past few years. Luckily, its single-player is certainly not the main attraction here.

Regardless of which mode you play in, Onward's control scheme has never been as customizable as it is right now. There's still no teleport option or even any type of arm-swinger option for the squeamish, but I've waited literal years for the ability to finally set my controller movement to track the direction that my head is pointing. Of course, when in the Quest version, you can now simply turn in the direction you'd like to move in, which works and feels absolutely fantastic in practice. Playing on Quest without cables pinning me to a certain location or position in my room, an entirely new world of interaction opens up within this hyper-tactile, hyper-detailed mil-sim; giving way to moments like the one I described before, where I attempted to leap out of harm's way.

In all, this new update feels like a clear move to make Onward more accessible to more players. It's commendable, especially given that playing it without tethers adds a whole new dimension to gameplay, and also given that the influx of new players has clearly filled in Onward's online community. It's just a shame that the experience has been watered down in other ways, introducing a new slew of problems that Downpour will inevitably need to fix— or risk alienating its most loyal contingent of fans.

The post Onward VR Quest Review — Two Steps Forward, One Step Back by Gabriel Moss appeared first on DualShockers.

God of War Gets a Stunning Limited Edition Movie-Style Poster From Sony Santa Monica

God of War

While it released over two years ago, God of War has still left a big mark for PS4 owners thanks to its emotional journey with Kratos and Atreus. While it remains to be seen if (or when) we'll get the next installment of the series on PS5, developer Santa Monica Studio is still continuing to release some incredible pieces of God of War merch to go alongside the game, including a new poster that's easily worth framing.

Developer Santa Monica Studio revealed a new movie poster-style piece of art for God of War that brings together its cast of characters in a striking style. As you can tell from the poster, which was drawn by artist Johannes Voss, the art captures the epic mythological story of Kratos and Atreus in the style of a Hollywood blockbuster.

You can check out the full hi-res art for the God of War poster by Johannes Voss below:

The limited edition poster is available now to purchase through the PlayStation Gear Store, with prints running at $59.95. The poster is sized at 24″x36″ and will begin shipping in September for those that pre-order.

While Santa Monica Studio's poster is stunning in its own right, the 2018 revival of the series has continued to inspire a ton of impressive fan creations. Recently we saw one fan get an amazing tattoo featuring Kratos and Atreus, along with a very regal and detailed fan-made portrait of Kratos on his throne.

God of War is available now exclusively on PS4.

The post God of War Gets a Stunning Limited Edition Movie-Style Poster From Sony Santa Monica by Ryan Meitzler appeared first on DualShockers.