Assassin's Creed Valhalla Pre-Load Times And Day One Update Detailed

assassin's creed valhalla

It's only a few days now until the next entry in Ubisoft's premier adventure franchise, Assassin's Creed Valhalla. The franchise took a year off from a full retail release, but it's back and Ubisoft is in the process of advertising now with plenty of commercials and TV spots to get the blood flowing. Now, they've released everything you'll need to know for both day one and pre-loading before.

Ubisoft posted the times for pre-loads across regions as well as exact launch times for every one. You can check out the full list below for each of the many systems it'll be available on. They also give some details on what to expect with the day one update, which will include additional language packs, game improvements and the animus database. This is in addition to the recently revealed photo mode that will be available at launch.

Assassin's Creed Valhalla will launch on November 10th for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, PC and Stadia.

PS5 Will Feature Accolades System Online To Encourage "Positive Influences"

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It was a big information dump for Sony's PS5 today. Embargoes are starting to lift now and a lot of outlets are sharing their thoughts as well as the features we may or may not have known. For instance, the PS5 will keep a pretty detailed time play log of the games you play, we know the trophy situation is about the same as the PS4 and game downloads are said to be a step up from its predecessor. We also know a bit about the online, too, with a new system that's all about them good vibes.

As revealed by Gamespot, Sony has a new little subsystem in their online called Accolades. These are awards that can be given to players you meet online in three categories: Helpful, Welcoming, and Good Sport. Helpful will be for those that were effective and team-oriented, Welcoming is for those who were friendly and Good Sport is for those who are shown to be honorable and respectful. These Accolades will be displayed on your profiles. Sony even explicitly says this is to "help encourage our best members and recognize positive influences." Which, you know, that's nice. I think most know that online gaming is filled mostly with human sewage so good on Sony for trying to bring some positivity.

The PS5 will launch on November 12th in some regions with a full worldwide release on the 19th.

Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered Gets Two Slick New Costumes

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For the launch of the PS5 there's a lot to pick and chose from, but probably the biggest is Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales. The attention has been on that game, as it should be since Miles is the best Spider-Man (I said it, send tweets). However, we can't forget the original 2018 title is getting quite the remaster to come alongside those who get the Ultimate Edition of Miles Morales. Today, we got a look at two new suits ol' Pete can swing around in.

Miles has had his share of slick alternate suits shown off, but the new two for Parker aren't too shabby. They are the Armored Advanced Suit and the Arachnid Rider, which you can see below. The armored suit looks very much in line with the game's style with Rider giving a more anime-like edge to things.

Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered will be available at the PS5 launch on November 12th for those who buy Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales Ultimate Edition. The original title is now available for PS4, and these suits will apparently also come to that version at some point.

PS5 Keeps Track Of How Long You've Played Games, Even Your PS4 Titles

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Today marked the lifting of a lot of embargoes for what can be talked about in regards to Sony's PS5. A lot of outlets have their reviews and impressions live and we're learning a lot. Some things have not been as well received, such as the lack of quick resume-like feature that the Xbox Series systems will have, or the lack of support for storage at launch. Most things have been received well, however, or won't be a big change such as the trophies situation. Another very neat feature has also been revealed to have been added, and it's all about time.

As revealed by Gamespot, the PS5 will feature a play log of your titles and the amount of hours you've put into games. They compare it Nintendo's Switch, but they say it's a lot more precise and doesn't just round up numbers. You'll have very detailed time stats for whatever you play. Maybe the neatest thing about all that? It does for your PS4 titles as well, including those that you have already played. So you can look at the 300 hours you've sunk into The Witcher 3 with pride or disgust, depending on who you are.

The PlayStation 5 will arrive on November 12th in select regions with a worldwide rollout on the 19th.

 

Marvel's Avengers' Poor Performance Drives $62 Million Loss For Square Enix

Marvel's Avengers

On paper, Marvel's Avengers seemed like a slam dunk. A game with a AAA budget, taking advantage of one of the biggest IPs in the world with some of the most popular and well known characters from the Marvel brand. However, even the best things on paper don't always translate to success, and that seems to be the case with Square Enix's superhero title. While it seems initial sales of the game did not do too bad, it wasn't near what was needed.

There have been some warning signs that Avengers did not do as well as hoped, particularly reports of abysmal player accounts that the developer had to address. We've also seen next generation versions of the title and upcoming DLC be pushed back into next year, an ominous sign for a live service game. Now, via Astria Advisory Japan KK's David Gibson, Square Enix points to the game's poor performance as the main driving force for a 6.5 Billion Yen loss for their HD Games division (that roughly equates to $62-63 million USD). While Gibson did not go into specifics of the investor's meeting, he said the implication was that the game only sold about 3 million copies and cost well over the $100 million mark to make. We will have a clearer picture once the full transcript of the briefing is released.

Unfortunately, this isn't too surprising considering the above mentioned events as well as the total silence about sales from the publisher since its September launch. The real question now is where the game goes from here and can it be revived to become viable again? Only time will tell.

PS5 Trophies Function Basically The Same As PS4

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As I imagine you have already known by now, review embargoes lifted for Sony's upcoming PS5. While there are still a few things that apparently can't be talked about, it seems the sheet is comfortably off the system now prior to launch. There's been a huge amount of information today, some on the good side, and some that maybe wasn't what people hoped for. Now we've got some confirmation about a more basic feature that some people love.

While we didn't get a PS5 in time for press reviews, Gamespot has confirmed that trophy hunting for the PS5 is pretty much the same as the PS4. They managed to get the Platinum trophy for Astro's Playroom, the pack in game that will come with all PS5 units, and they said there was nothing particularly different about the process. The only change there seems to be, at the time of reviews anyway, is that instead of a screenshot like the PS4, you get a small video clip. It was said, though, that trophies were easier and faster to get to with the new interface and quickness of the SSD, which trophy hunters will no doubt appreciate.

This was most likely assumed to be the case by most people, but if you were wondering if Sony was going to change it up, that does not seem to be the case. You'll get a chance to earn your first PS5 trophies come November 12th.

Yakuza: Like A Dragon's Xbox Series X/S Version Delayed Indefinitely In Japan

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Yakuza: Like a Dragon is the latest entry in the long running series, one we were pretty big fans of here. While the game has been available on PS4 in Japan since the beginning of the year as simply Yakuza 7, it will finally release in the west alongside the launch of the Xbox Series X and S on the 10th of November. But in a strange and ironic twist, those versions may not even end up existing in the game's native land.

As reported by Game Watch, the Xbox Series X/S version of Like a Dragon has been pushed back indefinitely as announced by Microsoft Japan. This is despite them slated to release in just a few days. What makes it even stranger is when the site reached out to Sega, the game's original publisher, they said that they had never specifically announced a release for those versions, which doesn't bode too well for them ever even coming out in the region.

Just to be clear, this is only in Japan. Review copies have gone out outside the region, and it's been known how the Series S and Series X versions of the title are expected to run. It's not the first wonky thing about platform with the game, however, as the existence of a PS5 version was absent for quite some time in the western marketing until it was finally revealed to be coming…in 2021, 4 months after the other versions. Just odd.

Yakuza: Like a Dragon will release on November 10th for PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One and PC outside Japan. A native PS5 version will come March 2nd, 2021.

PS5 DualSense Lasts 2 Hours With Astro's Playroom – Report

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The PlayStation 5's DualSense controller has wowed its fair share of developers and publications in the past few weeks. However, it's battery life could leave something to be desired. According to Multiplayer.it, the DualSense's battery only lasted for two hours when playing Astro's Playroom.

The title is very intensive with its haptic feedback but there have been other figures going around. Dave Lee on YouTube states about four hours of battery life from the controller when playing Astro's Playroom, though this was from leaving it running in an area that produced consistent feedback. Otherwise, Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales offered five and a half hours of life since its haptic feedback was relatively normal.

It's early days yet when it comes to estimating the battery life for the DualSense. But at the very least, with everything that's going on with the adaptive triggers, haptic feedback and whatnot, it seems that games leveraging this will drain the battery faster than others. The PS5 is out on November 12th so expect more details on its battery life and usage in the coming weeks.

The Medium Has Been Delayed to January 28, 2021

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It wasn't that long ago that Bloober Team confirmed the release date for their next-gen horror title The Medium as December 10. However, taking recently to Twitter via the game's official page, the developer confirmed that it has now been delayed.

The delay isn't an awfully long one, and The Medium will launch about a month and a half after its previous release date, on January 28, 2021. In its message, Bloober Team says that this decision has been made due to the COVID-19 situation in Poland, as well as "the current schedule of other games on the market."

Though they have named no specific games, it's likely that the latter is referring to Cyberpunk 2077, which was recently delayed to December 10, which is the same day The Medium was supposed to launch. Recently, Rockfish Games delayed the early access launch of Everspace 2 as well, explicitly saying that they did so to avoid clashing with Cyberpunk 2077's launch (and this isn't the first time they've done that either).

When The Medium launches, it will be available on Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and PC.

PS5's Game Download Times Are Significantly Faster Than PS4

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Whether or not you have sufficient storage space on your PS5 for all the games you want to play might be a problem that you'll have to contend with for a while after launch, but as far as downloading games is concerned, it seems the PS5 is significantly faster than the PS4- which is a relief, since the latter is notoriously slow on that front.

US Gamer points out in its PS5 review that the console's game downloading speeds are much faster than the PS4. The reviewer was able to download  Disgaea 5 (6.58 GB) on the PS5 in less than 2 minutes, as opposed to nearly 11 minutes on a PS4 Pro. Similarly, Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise (36.6 GB) downloaded in 7 minutes on PS5, as opposed to over 58 minutes on PS4 Pro.

Of course, how quickly you're able to download games will vary depending on your internet connection and download speeds. But while you might not be seeing those exact same download times, you will be seeing significantly faster downloads as compared to what the PS4 offers.

PS5's lead system architect Mark Cerny has previously also talked about how the console's SSD will help reduce patch install times significantly. Read more on that through here.