Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory Demo Is Out Now

Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory Demo

Square Enix and Kingdom Hearts Director Tetsuya Nomura announced via Twitter the Melody of Memory demo is launching on October 15, and is actually now available. The demo can be found on the Microsoft Store for Xbox One, on the PlayStation Store for PS4, and on the Nintendo Eshop for Switch. Tetsuya Nomura technically said the demo would be out when clocks hit midnight in Japan, in around as hour as I'm publishing this, but it's already available.

The Melody of Memory demo lets you play in single player but also in online co-op. It features 4 Field Battle Music Stages and 2 Co-op Music Stages for a total of 6 playable songs. You can't save your data or transfer data to the full game.

A short gameplay video of the KH Melody of Memory demo, showing the title screen, was shared through the Nomura tweet too.

Tetsuya Nomura: "Sorry for the late night notice. Actually when we change dates at midnight, the demo of Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory will be launching subsequently on each Store. Whether you're into music games, whether you're a fan of the KH Series, or whether you're unused to both, please try it out. We're now less than a month away from the game's release. Please look forward to it."

You can read more on KHMoM with our translations of the latest interviews with the game's staff published by Japanese outlets. Some new KH goods and figurines were recently revealed as well. Check them out here.

Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory will launch on PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch on November 13. The game will be out two days earlier in Japan, on November 11. You can preorder it on Amazon to support DualShockers.

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PlayStation Inventor Ken Kutaragi is Building Robots to Fight Covid

A new report from Bloomberg has revealed the latest position being held by the 70-year-old inventor of the PlayStation, and that he is being paid nothing for his work. Ken Kutaragi has assumed the role of chief executive officer at Ascent Robotics Inc., a artificial intelligence startup in Tokyo, Japan.

Before you start worrying that the PlayStation inventor is making The Patriots, hear me out. Kutaragi has taken this role not to control the flow of information, but to "make affordable robots that can safely move around and do physical work alongside humans in factories and logistics centers," according to the report.

"The Covid-19 outbreak has turned the old argument about robots taking our jobs on its head," said Kutaragi. Although sparse on details on how he would accomplish integrating AI-driven robots into workplaces, Kutaragi did reveal that to accomplish this, partnerships between other companies would be essential.

In that vein, Kutaragi has partnered Ascent with multiple companies to advance his AI goals. The startup has already partnered with Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. on a robotic arm that uses a single camera to differentiate items from each other and pick up one out of a group. Another partnership with an anonymous Japanese carmaker is working towards developing better autonomous driving software.

These two partnerships lean into the most difficult challenges that Kutaragi is facing: collaborative robots and autonomous driving. While self-driving cars feel like they are only years away, the technology required to have robots work together is a far off dream being pursued by multiple companies.

However, Kutaragi has found that he is the man for the job. "If you are looking to combine robotics and mobility, you need someone in charge who understands technology," he said.

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Mass Effect: Legendary Edition Rated For Release In Korea

Mass Effect Legendary Edition

In a year of poorly kept secrets, the Mass Effect remasters are certainly one of the worst. While EA or Bioware have yet to make any concrete announcements, plenty of evidence has started to stack up to suggest the first three games are due for a rerelease.

The latest piece of evidence comes from Korea, courtesy of Gematsu, who have noted that the Mass Effect: Legendary Edition has now been rated for release. While a rating is still far from official confirmation, it suggests an announcement and potentially a release will be coming soon.

The evidence really started to mount back in July, when a listing on Amazon popped up for an art book titled The Art of the Mass Effect Trilogy: Expanded Edition. Since then, retailers from two different European countries, both Portugal and the Czech Republic, listed the trilogy for pre-order on their websites.

The collection was originally slated for release late this year, however, reports suggested that issues with both the graphics and gameplay from the original Mass Effect game have caused some issues. The collection, which now looks to officially be called Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, has since been delayed behind the scenes because of this. The new release date isn't too far away, despite the reported setback, with the collection now due in the early parts of next year.

While the delay is unfortunate for fans, that's not the only piece of rumoured bad news. Initially, the listings on the European websites suggested Mass Effect: Legendary Edition would be hitting all three current-gen platforms, more recent murmurings have suggested otherwise however. According to Jeff Grubb, who has been one of the people at the forefront of the Mass Effect rumours, Nintendo Switch owners have cause for concern. Grubb suggested that although EA is bringing seven titles to the Switch, the Mass Effect Trilogy is "definitely not one of them."

Keep your eyes here for any news on the trilogy as it drops.

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Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Steve's One Victory Pose Is…Meaty

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Minecraft's Steve is now officially available to use in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and with his arrival is also the latest patch that brings a range of changes and improvements to the game. However, as more players get to grips with Steve, some have noticed a rather peculiar win pose.

Throughout Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, characters come loaded with victory poses, and more. Steve is no exception and has victory poses where he's standing motionless, and emotionless, and there's one where he leaves a building, There is also one where he pulls out a porkchop, munches on it, then brings it down to his pelvis…this coupled with the camera angle looks like Steve is instead holding something else. Something questionable…you can see what I mean below.

And yeah, this is obviously not intended to look that way…I imagine, but it's also legit. Content creator ProsafiaGaming has a video online showing all the available victory poses, final smash, and some other new elements that are available with Steve's arrival to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Steve heading to the game was a surprise that also coincidentally was revealed at the same time Twitter crashed, leading to everyone to assume Steve broke the social media platform for a moment. His arrival was also revealed to have been in talks for at least 5 years.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is available exclusively on Nintendo Switch, with Minecraft's Steve being available as DLC for the game's Fighters Pass.

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Super Smash Bros Ultimate 9.0.0 Balance Patch: Here are the Major Fighter Changes

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Steve has been added to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as the game's eighth DLC fighter. With his arrival, the teams at Bandai Namco, Hal Laboratories, and Nintendo have also introduced some new adjustments and changes for the characters in the game. It's been a few months since the last character balance patch, which launched with Min Min from ARMS, was introduced back in June, so players have been eager to get their hands on the latest fighter updates.

Across the board, almost every character that's seen changes has been buffed. Out of every character touched in the patch, Ness, Ice Climbers, Sonic, Lucario, Bowser Junior, Simon, and Richter seem to be the biggest winners. Sonic is perhaps the most surprising name to appear on this list as he was deemed to be so powerful that he was banned in some online tournaments. While some newcomers to the competitive side of the game might be surprised to see Ness on this list, a lot of his changes actually made a lot of sense.

A notable Sonic player, PowPow demonstrates one of Sonic's new combo.

While players used to playing the game online might be shocked that Ness and Sonic of all characters are getting buffed, the two infamously annoying characters will actually benefit from it. Because of the way that the game's engine works, moves that hit multiple times don't always work the way that they're intended to, with some moves allowing characters to just fall out of them, like Sonic's up-air attack and up smash attack and Ness's dash attack.

Both Lucario and Bowser Junior, on the other hand, aren't as much of a surprise – tier lists made by competitive players often included the two at or near the bottoms of their lists. Simon and Richter certainly weren't very high up on a lot of lists either. The Ice Climbers, however, are just ultimately so unpopular that they aren't easy to place on lists.

Whether or not these balance changes will shake up the competitive scene remains to be seen, but regardless of how the adjustments affected the game, it'll be the most interesting to see how Steve fits in. For the full list of character changes and adjustments, including specific changes about individual moves, check out the official Nintendo Support site.

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Steve is Officially Out In Super Smash Bros Ultimate

Super Smash Bros Ultimate Steve

The day a new DLC fighter for Super Smash Bros Ultimate comes out is always too long. While most first-party Nintendo content drops on the Eshop at midnight Eastern Time, for some reason, most Smash characters drop at inconsistent times, generally close to 9 PM Eastern Time. But even then, predicting when the character is out is impossible especially when Nintendo servers are seemingly bombarded the moment a new character releases, forcing some players to sit on their home screen and mash the sequence of buttons needed to update a game until their copy eventually does, in fact, update.

Thankfully, our wait is over – Steve is finally playable in the game! Alongside Minecraft's iconic protagonist, we're also getting a slew of new Mii costumes, a new stage set in Minecraft, as well as the 9.0.0 balance patch that will add a few character adjustments and changes to stages and other minor bugs.

Outside of minor changes, bug fixes and the Small Battlefield stage, the last major update for Nintendo's premiere party platform fighter released with the last DLC fighter, Min Min on June 29, so needless to say, Smash fans, especially hardcore players, are eager to learn which fighters have changes inbound. Of course, the arrival of the 9.0.0 update also means that players' previously saved replays will no longer be valid and will be deleted following the update, unless they convert their match replays into videos in the Vault section of the game.

While Steve's inclusion is largely exciting, it's served as a double-edged sword for Smash fans, as some of the Mii Fighter costumes being added, like Travis Touchdown and Bomberman, represent characters that would otherwise be widely requested as newcomers for the game who aren't likely to make it in as playable characters. That said, never EVER rule out Sakurai magic.

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Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales Receives Stellar Batch of New Screenshots via Game Informer

Last week, Insomniac Games released a lone new screenshot from Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales which was enough to get me quite excited for the follow-up title that is debuting on PS5. Today, even more images have come to light, and with it, my excitement has grown once more.

In a new slate of coverage from Game Informer, a number of new screenshots from Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales have been let loose, and they all look spectacular. Most of the images in question focus on Miles as he swings throughout the streets of New York City, but we do see a handful of others with him in combat. Additional pics also show Miles launching into the frame alongside Peter Parker, while others highlight some of the baddies Miles will face off against to go along with some of his variant costumes.

I think what keeps standing out to me the most in all of these new screenshots is just the lighting. The way in which light bounces off of certain objects, especially Miles' suit, just doesn't seem like anything that we've seen before on PS4. While these are high-quality press assets that might very well look better than the actual game does (depending on what you're TV setup is like), they at the very least make me happy to be getting a PS5 on day one to experience it.

You can check out a handful of the new screenshots for Spider-Man: Miles Morales attached below. As for the game itself, it's set to release on both PS5 and PS4 next month on November 12.

And seriously, if you're looking forward to Miles Morales whatsoever, I highly encourage you to check out Game Informer's coverage. There's a ton of great pieces of info you can read in the publication's newest issue right here.

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Burger King is Giving You a Shot to Win a PS5 Console with Select Purchases Starting this Week

You want to know why the PS5 has been so hard to pre-order? Well, apparently, The King stole all of them. Thankfully, he'll be giving them out to some select folks as long as you eat his burgers.

Newsweek has provided more information today on the upcoming collaboration between Sony and Burger King which will see the fast food chain giving out PS5 consoles to select winners. Much like Taco Bell's ongoing promotion with the Xbox Series X, Burger King will give you the chance to win a PS5 with every purchase a two for $5 meal. This purchase will net you a "game token" which you will then earn on the Burger King app or website. With this token, you can then play a virtual scratch-off game where the prizes include PlayStation video game codes, Burger King coupons, or the PS5 itself.

As for when this promotion begins, it will kick-off later this week on Thursday, October 15 and will last for a little bit over a month until November 22. For those desperate to get a next-gen PlayStation that don't already have one locked down via a pre-order, here's what could be your best shot to obtain one at launch.

Last month, Sony announced that it would be releasing more PS5 pre-order units to select retailers around the globe, but since that announcement, restocks have only appeared a handful of times at certain outlets. With that in mind, I hope you're hungry for some hamburgers, because this sounds like it might be the only way Sony is giving out new PS5 consoles before release on November 12. Good luck.

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Xbox Game Pass Next Additions Include Katana Zero and Age of Empires

Katana Zero

If you've been around the video game space in any capacity, you've probably heard Xbox Game Pass referred to as the best deal in gaming. Containing an assortment of Microsoft's biggest first-party games, a slew of third-party gems and access to EA Play in the very near future, Microsoft's subscription service is a must-have for any Xbox owner.

As they do every month, Microsoft has just confirmed the latest additions to the service, with no fewer than eight games joining the party. Headlining the list is an excellent indie title and the definitive version of a PC classic. The full list is as follows:

  • Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition (PC) – October 15
  • Heave Ho (PC) – October 15
  • Katana Zero (Android, Console, PC) – October 15
  • Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition (Console and PC) – October 15
  • The Swords of Ditto: Mormo's Curse (PC) – October 15
  • ScourgeBringer (Console) – October 21
  • Cricket 19 (Console) – October 22
  • Supraland (Console) – October 22

Once again, Microsoft has flexed its Game Pass muscles with another great and varied batch of games. Age of Empires is a classic strategy hit, Katana Zero is a critically acclaimed neo-noir, action-platformer and Tales of Vesperia is a beloved RPG that originated on the Xbox 360. These games join the recently added Doom: Eternal to a stacked month of additions.

Not everything can last forever however and there will be a handful of games leaving the service over the next couple of weeks. Leaving on October 15 are Felix the Reaper, Metro 2033 Redux, Minits, Saints Row IV: Re-Elected and State of Mind. On October 30, After Party, LEGO Star Wars III, Rise & Shine, The Lord of the Rings: Adventure Card Game and The Red Strings Club will all be saying their goodbyes.

With Microsoft's recent acquisition of gaming giant Bethesda, Xbox Game Pass will only continue to get stronger. At the time the deal was announced, Xbox head Phil Spencer stated that Microsoft "will be adding Bethesda's iconic franchises to Xbox Game Pass for console and PC."

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Genshin Impact: Key Binding is Under Consideration

Genshin Impact key binding

Genshin Impact (PC, PS4, Mobile) is pretty good but has a key binding problem since its first Closed Beta Test. It's currently impossible to change the key binding when playing mouse + keyboard, or to remap buttons when using a controller. Meaning you just have to adapt to the default key binding and button map. Those aren't bad by far and do the job. But it can be tricky for those not using a Qwerty keyboard. Overall, it'd be way better if everyone could freely rebind keys the way they like.

Players who participated in the Beta Tests have been saying for months that a key binding function is definitely needed in Genshin Impact. Sadly, judging from the latest Q&A miHoYo shared, it still won't be coming for now.

In the Q&A, miHoYo mentioned more customization settings and key binding is under consideration, and a report on the progress of the development of these features is coming in a future Q&A. Seeing Genshin Impact Version 1.1 will launch on November 11, it means button remap won't be available then, but might be coming with Version 1.2 in December 23.

Note that this is the same Q&A regarding Version 1.1 and future improvements we covered beforehand. The Q&A was only in Chinese back then, so we had to rely on a Japanese fan-translation. Now, on October 13, miHoYo shared an official translation of the Q&A in Japanese, allowing me to read it in full and notice this detail regarding key binding.

Personally I think the lack of button remap is one of the biggest weaknesses in Genshin Impact right now. Alongside the extremely low drop rates for five star characters. The game doesn't push players to use the gacha and you can do everything with the base characters. But better rates would definitely help. You can ask miHoYo to do something about it and share what you like or dislike about the game so far through the ongoing player survey. I highly doubt the rates will change but it's much better telling miHoYo directly than debating it on social media. In any case, I wouldn't recommend to anyone putting money in the game to pull the gacha or in any gacha game as it's never guaranteed you'll get what you want. That's just the way it is.

Genshin Impact is also coming to Switch and PS5 at some point.

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