Ruined King: A League of Legends Story Announced, Launches Next Year
Riot Games have announced League of Legends' first ever single player outing- Ruined King: A League of Legends Story, a turn based RPG being developed by Airship Syndicate (who also developed last year's Darksiders: Genesis). Comic book artist Joe Madureira will be in charge of the game's art design.
Set in two regions that League fans will be familiar with – Runeterra an the Shadow Isles – Ruined King will see characters and heroes from across the series coming together as they face off against a new, common enemy that threatens their existence. Champions such as Ahri, Miss Fortune, Pyke, Braum, Yasuo, and Illaoi will be making a return, among others. The announcement trailer doesn't show any actual gameplay footage, but sets up the narrative pretty well- take a look below.
Ruined King: A League of Legends Story will release in early 2021 for PS4, Xbox One, PC (via Steam and Epic Games Store), and Nintendo Switch, and will be followed soon afterward by releases on Xbox Series X/S and PS5. Free next-gen upgrades will be supported.
Sony Intends to Keep PS4 Players "Engaged and Happy" for the Foreseeable Future
Sony has talked several times in recent months about how it believes in generations, and wants to deliver games on the PS5 that will only be available on PS5– but there's still life left in the PS4 as well. PS5 launch titled Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Sackboy: A Big Adventure are both going to release for PS4 as well, while next year, Horizon Forbidden West will also launch as a cross-gen title.
And according to PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan, that kind of support is something that will continue for the foreseeable future, into 2022 as well. Speaking in a recent interview with GamesIndustry, Ryan said that the increased audience engagement the PS4 has enjoyed in recent months due to COVID has opened Sony's eyes to its potential of continued growth even now, and the company intends to keep its audiences engaged with new content for some time to come.
""Obviously, our eyes and our horizons have lifted with regards to what's possible with that PS4 community, based on what we've observed over the last six months," Ryan said. "That can be quite powerful, because in 2021, 2022… that PS4 community that we've spoken about, they will be the vast majority of people on PlayStations during that time. It is crucial that we keep them engaged and happy. And the last six months have demonstrated that we could do that to an extent that we didn't think possible when we were setting our minds pre-COVID."
This, of course, is not the first time Sony has publicly taken this stance. They've previously said that the PS4 will continue to be supported a few more years to come, and that there's still plenty left that's coming to the PS4 that audiences don't know about.
PSVR Cannot Play PS5 Games, Only Runs Via Backward Compatibility
How the PSVR headset will work with the PS5 has been a bit of a mystery for a while, especially with the PS5's HD Camera not supporting PSVR (though Sony is shipping adapters to PSVR owners). Sony have now confirmed details, and they're a bit disappointing.
A Sony representative recently told Upload VR that no PSVR games have been announced for the PS5, and that if you want to play Hitman 3 in VR, you will have to play the PS4 version of the game via backward compatibility. Similarly, when No Man's Sky's next-gen upgrade was recently announced, Hello Games confirmed that it would be playable in VR only via backward compatibility.
What this means, in simple terms, is that PS5 games will not natively support PSVR, and if you do want to play VR-compatible games, you'll have to play their PS4 versions. The specifics of how this will work with cross-progression and free next-gen upgrades, as well as whether PSVR support will eventually be added to PS5 games, haven't yet been confirmed.
PS5's backward compatibility will boost certain PSVR games' frame rates, so there is that.
Halo Infinite is Almost Content Complete, 2021 Launch is More or Less Assured – Insider
The recent news that Halo Infinite project lead Chris Lee has stepped down from his position has been met with plenty of concern by fans of the series, especially given the fact that this is far from the only major high profile departure from the studio during the game's development. Questions about how this will affect the game's development and whether we should be expecting another delay have been asked often since then, but according to known Xbox insider Klobrille, that won't be the case.
Taking recently to Twitter, Klobrille stated that development of Halo Infinite is in its later stages, with the game being "more or less" content complete (which means 343 Industries have developed all of the playable content in the game). According to Klobrille, the studio is now almost fully focused on the technical aspects of development and polishing the game, and as such, a release in 2021 for the game looks more or less certain.
There have ben some rumours in the past that have suggested that Halo Infinite could be delayed out of 2021, though 343 Industries have categorically denied those rumours. Xbox boss Phil Spencer has suggested that the studio might consider releasing the shooter's campaign and multiplayer components separately, so there's still a lot of questions left to be answered.
Halo Infinite, whenever it does launch, will be available for Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, and PC. Joseph Staten, a Halo veteran from the Bungie days, has been brought on board to lead the campaign's development and help close out development.
The game is more or less content complete. They can fully focus on the technical aspects now. I absolutely do expect Halo Infinite to be released 2021.
— Klobrille (@klobrille) October 30, 2020
Demon's Souls Remake Stays True to FromSoftware's Original Vision, Says Creative Director
Remakes always have to find the right balance to strike between being faithful to the original game and introducing changes and ideas of their own, and that balance is even harder to find when the game being remade is as influential and beloved as 2009's PS3 exclusive Demon's Souls. FromSoftware started a veritable revolution with that game and essentially created a subgenre single-handedly- so how exactly are developers Bluepoint Games choosing to approach development for its remake?
Though the remake does have plenty of new features to speak of, Bluepoint Games and Sony have ensured that it still remains true to the original vision FromSoftware and Hidetaka Miyazaki (director of the original game) had for it. Speaking in a recent interview with GameSpot, creative director Gavin Moore said that that was the "gold standard" for the team.
"The original creators, Miyazaki and FromSoftware, gave their blessing and they were happy for us to go forward and make this game," said Moore. "I mean, they gave their blessing, but they didn't get involved in the actual day-to-day production of the game. Now, all of that development was handled by Worldwide Studios and Bluepoint Games, but we made sure that we stayed true to their original vision. That's incredibly important. We're massive fans of Miyazaki's games, and so making sure that what we created was true to his vision, that was the gold standard."
Looking back at Bluepoint's work on the Shadow of the Colossus remake (and the excellent results they achieved with it), it's not surprising that they've approached the Demon's Souls remake in similar fashion. Based on everything that Sony have shown of the game so far, it looks like exactly the sort of game it needs to be.
Demon's Souls reportedly went gold toward the end of September, and will be releasing exclusively for the PS5 on November 12. It's been confirmed that the game won't have any difficulty options, nor will it feature support for ray-tracing.
Insomniac and Sony recently unveiled an obvious match made in heaven when they confirmed that the Spidey suit from the excellent film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse would be available in the upcoming game, Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales.
One of the best things about the suit that has caught the eye of many is how Insomniac have adopted the animation style of the movie, animating the suit on the 2s to achieve a lower frame rate for the suit itself than the rest of the game. The developer has now also confirmed that the same animation style can be equipped to every other suit in the game as well- or if you don't fancy it and just want to use the suit without the animation style, you can simply unequip it as well.
Recently, extensive gameplay footage showing combat and swinging with the suit was recently released- check it out through here.
Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales is out for the PS5 and PS4 on November 12. Its reviews will reportedly begin going live on November 6.
Recently, a leak showed the incredibly fast loading times of the game. Check it out through here.
The Vibe the Verse suit mod allows you to mimic the frequency of another Earth (ie animate on the 2s), and you can unequip it, or equip it to the other suits in the game as well! https://t.co/EjcNfx9XLx
— Insomniac Games (@insomniacgames) October 30, 2020
PS5 – DualSense's Haptic Feedback and Adaptive Triggers Can be Reduced or Disabled
The PS5 has no shortage of things to boast of, and one look at its spec sheet makes it clear that it's going to be a big leap over its predecessor. But while the specs are impressive, to say the least, what Sony have been concentrating on in the lead up to the console's launch just as much is the controller. The DualSense, with its haptic feedback and adaptive triggers, is promising to bring an altogether new level of immersion to games, and developers seem to be implementing its features in their games in pretty interesting ways.
Keeping accessibility in mind, though, Sony is aware that not every user will want to – or be able to – engage with these new features. Talking about the accessibility features of the PS5 in a new update, Sony recently confirmed that users will have the option to reduce or even outright disable the headlining features of the new controller, namely the adaptive triggers and the haptic feedback.
The PS5 will launch in some regions of the world on November 12, and everywhere else on November 19. Stay tuned until then for continued coverage.
Xbox Series X/S – Official Controller Unboxing Video Details the Biggest Improvements
While the PS5 is making some big changes with its controller by introducing haptic feedback and adaptive triggers and potentially making them an integral part of its next-gen experience, Microsoft are taking more of an "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" approach with the new controller for the Xbox Series X/S, which takes the already excellent Xbox One controller and makes some smart yet iterative improvements.
In a new video uploaded by Microsoft, we get to see the new controller getting unboxed, followed by details being shared on what some of the biggest improvements are going to be. From the improved d-pad to the upgraded ergonomics to the new share button, and more, the video talks about quite a bit. Take a look below.
The new Xbox controller will be available in three colours- Carbon Black, to go along with the Xbox Series X; Robot White, paired with the Xbox Series S; and a third colour option called Shock Blue, which will cost an additional $5.
Assassin's Creed Valhalla Commercial Teaches the Basics of Raiding and Looting
When Assassin's Creed Valhalla launches a little over a week from now, it will bring with it the promise of letting you live out your greatest Viking power fantasies, as you raid and loot across 9th century England in an effort to find a new home for your clan and your followers.
To hype up the game's impending launch, Ubisoft have released a new TV commercial for it, teaching the basics of how to be a Viking- from raiding villages to living up to your fearsome reputation to looting and pillaging until your enemies cower in your presence. Take a look below.
Assassin's Creed Valhalla has wrapped up development, and is out for Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PS4, PC, and Stadia on November 10, and for PS5 on November 12. Recently, Ubisoft confirmed that the game won't run at native 4K on PS5. Cross-progression will be supported across all platforms.
Ubisoft recently unveiled the full post-launch roadmap for the upcoming open world RPG. Learn more about that through here.
Demon's Souls on PS5 Won't Have Ray-Tracing
Bluepoint Games' Demon's Souls remake received a bunch of a new details and some absolutely gorgeous new gameplay footage. Given the graphical fidelity and how amazing has looked thus far, where does ray-tracing factor in? As it turns out, ray-tracing isn't being implemented at all.
Creative director Gavin Moore spoke to LevelUp and confirmed the same. This wasn't because the PS5 is incapable of handling it. "It's not because we couldn't or because the PlayStation 5 couldn't do it, it's fully capable of doing it." Instead, Moore said there's a "cost" to adding it in.
"It's like any other graphical improvement, there is a cost [to implement ray tracing]. If we had implemented ray tracing in the game, that would mean that we would have had to leave something out. There is a limited time in game development."
Whether ray-tracing would have affected the overall scope of the world or hampered performance is unknown. But as it stands, it's crazy to think that the remake has looked this good without it. One can expect two different graphical modes from the remake, as revealed by IGN – Cinematic, which runs at 4K/30 FPS with real-time shadows, tessellation and high resolution textures on even the smallest assets; and Performance, which runs at dynamic 4K but maintains a solid 60 FPS.
Demon's Souls launches alongside the PS5 on November 12th.