NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139… Confirmed for The Game Awards
Square Enix's NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139…, a remaster of NieR Replicant that's out next year, will be appearing at The Game Awards. Viewers can expect a "brand new look" at the title, according to producer and host Geoff Keighley. Perhaps we'll finally get see some full-fledged gameplay as opposed to early builds and environments.
Announced back in March, NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139… is based on the PS3 version of the action RPG that released for Japan in 2010. The remaster is being handled by Toylogic and features fully voiced dialogue exchanges along with HD visuals. There are also some upgrades to combat and new characters, though we've yet to see much of these.
With how acclaimed its sequel NieR: Automata has become with 4.85 million in worldwide shipments and digital sales, the response to NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139… should be interesting. It releases on April 23rd 2021 for Xbox One, PS4 and PC via Steam. The Game Awards 2020 are slated for December 10th and will start at 3:30 PM PT.
Don't miss a brand new look at @NieRGame Replicant ver.1.22474487139 during #TheGameAwards pre-show on Thursday — streaming at 6:30 pm ET / 3:30 PM PT at https://t.co/JhGKODahXK pic.twitter.com/5o3ZFMAOkl
— Geoff Keighley (@geoffkeighley) December 8, 2020
Cyberpunk 2077 Launch Trailer Invites Players to Become Legends
It's been a long wait fraught with delays but CD Projekt RED's Cyberpunk 2077 is finally set to release this Thursday. To celebrate the occasion, a new launch trailer has been released, showcasing all of the sights and sounds of Night City along with its dangers. Check it out below.
The story focuses on V, who can be a Corpo rat, Street Kid or Nomad depending on one's Life Path. After a job gone wrong, V has an Immortality Chip stuck in his head along with the digital ghost of Johnny Silverhand (played by Keanu Reeves). Thus the duo embarks on a quest to uncover the truth and maybe burn the city down.
Cyberpunk 2077 will be releasing for Xbox One, PS4, PC and Google Stadia on December 10th. Pre-loads are currently live for all platforms. While the game will be playable on Xbox Series X/S and PS5, offering improved performance over the base consoles, proper upgrades will be releasing next year. Stay tuned for more details on that in the coming months.
Hitman 3 – All Guns Will Support PS5 DualSense's Adaptive Triggers
Along with showcasing new gameplay for Hitman 3, IO Interactive also provided details for the PS5 version on the PlayStation Blog. To recap, 4K/60 FPS with HDR support and a free PS5 upgrade for PS4 owners, both physical and digital, have been confirmed. The stealth title will also utilize DualSense on the PS5 with all of its guns supporting the adaptive triggers.
As an example, automatic weapons provide realistic recoil with each bullet fired and each weapon's haptic feedback is associated with a unique sound profile. "Essentially, we're emulating what it feels like to fire a specific weapon in the same way that we're replicating how each weapon sounds," says communications manager Travis Barbour.
There's also a unique function when using sniper rifles. Pressing R2 will eventually result in a "tension point". The world will slow down as the Focus effect comes into play and you'll need to apply more pressure to pull the trigger, resulting in a satisfying "click." Barbour also reiterated full support with PlayStation VR which also supports locations from previous games.
However, Hitman 3 in PlayStation VR can also be enjoyed on the PlayStation 5, albeit through backwards compatibility with the PS4 version. To that end, all PS5 owners will receive a free digital copy of the PS4 version to properly accommodate them. Hitman 3 is out on January 20th 2021 for Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PS4, PS5, PC and Google Stadia with the cloud version coming to Nintendo Switch later.
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity Trailer Highlights Critical Praise
Nintendo's Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity released on November 20th and has received quite the reception. Over three million units were shipped within a few days of launch, making it the most successful Musou game till date. But there's been quite the critical praise as well, as revealed in the new accolades trailer.
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity takes place 100 years before the events of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. As Calamity Ganon's forces begin to rise, Zelda, Link and the Champions must bound together to stop them. Despite being billed as a prequel, Age of Calamity does shake up the continuity somewhat.
For those interested in action, there are runes, over-the-top special attacks, numerous weapons (which don't break) and so on to look forward to. There also multiple playable characters from Link and Zelda to each of the four Champions and even a younger Impa. Check out our review of the game here for more details.
Persona 5 Strikers is Out in the West on February 23 for PS4, Nintendo Switch, and PC
Persona 5 Strikers' western launch has been anticipated for a while now, especially with the game having been out in Japan for nearly a year. Recently, a leak suggested that the game would be releasing in February in the west, and though that leak was plugged by Atlus, they confirmed that an official announcement would be coming soon. That announcement is now here.
Atlus have confirmed with an announcement trailer that the musou action RPG Persona 5 Strikers, co-developed by Atlus' P-Studio and Warriors developers Omega Force, will be releasing in the west on February 23, 2021. It will be available on PS4 and Nintendo Switch, as well as PC via Steam. The announcement trailer is, of course, the same as the one that was leaked recently, but in case you didn't watch it then, you can do it now. Check it out below.
Persona 5 Strikers is available in Japan for PS4 and Nintendo Switch as Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers.
Don't Expect Games to Look Significantly Better on Xbox Series X Than on PS5 – Headup Games CTO
The Xbox Series X and PS5 are pretty evenly matched when you look at their net hardware, but both of them have advantages over each other in specific areas. Microsoft's console, for instance, comes out on top in terms of pure, raw power, with a GPU of 12 teraflops, as compared to the PS5's 10.28 teraflops GPU.
How will that, however, affect games in the coming years, especially those that release across both consoles? Can we expect multiplatform titles to look noticeably better on the Xbox Series X than they do on the PS5? According to Mark Aldrup, chief technology officer at Headup Games – who recently published the ClockStone-developed Bridge Constructor: The Walking Dead – that won't be the case.
Speaking to GamingBolt in a recent interview about the same, Aldrup said that the gap in the two consoles will only make a difference to the AAA development studios- and even in that case, players shouldn't expect games to look significantly better on Xbox than on PlayStation.
"For us and most other indie developers this is not going to make any big difference," Aldrup said. "For AAA development studios this might result in a slightly higher performance, but this is also very dependent on other factors than only the theoretical TFLOPS. I don't think that we're going to see games on Xbox Series X that look significantly better than their PS5 counterparts."
Our full interview with the people behind Bridge Constructor: The Walking Dead will be going live soon, so stay tuned for that. The game is available now on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC, iOS, and Android.
Call of the Sea is Out Now for Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC
Out of the Blue's first person puzzle adventure Call of the Sea is now available for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and PC players. It's also live for Xbox Game Pass subscribers. Check out the launch trailer below to see how it looks.
Call of the Sea follows Norah who ventures to a strange island in the Southern Pacific in search of her husband. Set in the 1930s, the main crux of the experience is exploring the island and solving puzzles to progress forward while learning the truth of the expedition. Though it's not a horror game, Call of the Sea has been heavily inspired by Lovecraft's works.
For more information on the game, you can check out our official review here. Though Call of the Sea hasn't explicitly been confirmed as an exclusive for Xbox platforms, the development team is unable to comment on a possible PS5 version. Stay tuned for more details on that front in the coming months.
World of Warcraft recently received its eighth major expansion since its launch in 2004, and Shadowlands has gone to to beat all previous sales records. Activision-Blizzard had stated earlier that its pre-launch sales were higher than any other WoW expansion, and that's translated in excellent launch day sales as well.
The company recently announced that World of Warcraft: Shadowlands sold 3.7 million units in its first 24 hours after launch, in the processing becoming the fastest selling PC game of all time. It beats a record previously held by Blizzard's Diablo 3, which sold 3.5 million copies in 24 hours.
Activision-Blizzard also announced that in the time leading up to an following Shadowlands' launch, WoW reached and sustained its higher ever number of players for monthly or longer subscriptions. Cumulative year-to-date playtime in World of Warcraft is also higher this year than it has been in the past 10 years, with total player time nearly twice as much as it was at this time last year.
World of Warcraft: Shadowlands is available now on PC. In our review, we praised the expansion for its "interesting story, gorgeous visuals and audio, a great leveling experience, and good endgame", awarding it a score of 8/10. You can read our full review through here.
Hitman 3 Gameplay Trailer Promises New Tools, Familiar Killing Tricks
IO Interactive has a new gameplay trailer available for Hitman 3, providing a brief overview of the game's mechanics. For World of Assassination fans, this will look very familiar as Agent 47 can once again don disguises, sneak into various places and assassinate targets with impunity. Check it out below.
The usual Opportunities in environments hold true but Agent 47 will also have some new tools, like a camera for bypassing locks. Of course, you can play things as sneaky or as aggressive as you'd like. Players will be able to earn new ICA gear, stashed weapons, starting locations and exotic distractions by progressing through the various Mastery Tracks.
Elusive Targets, Escalations and other mission types also make a comeback, offering all kinds of challenges for players to partake in. Hitman 3 is currently slated to release on January 20th 2021 for Xbox One, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, PS5, PC and Google Stadia. A cloud version for the Nintendo Switch will be coming later.
FIFA 21 Patch Apparently Includes Code To Potentially Enable Blocking Ultimate Team
While it has been a good while now since we've had a big controversy surrounding loot boxes and microtransactions in gaming, it's worth remembering that those things are still being looked into in some regions, especially throughout Europe. One recent example is FIFA, which latest game has just rolled out on next generation consoles, and it's Ultimate Team mode. It also seems with the latest update, EA is trying to get ahead of potential issues this could cause.
In the latest patch for FIFA 21, it was discovered that there was code for a potential message about the mode being disable. It's a rather passive aggressive message, and you can see it below curtesy of FUT Watch. There's no instances of this being used yet, so it seems to be a placeholder in the event of potential legislation
FIFA remains one of the best selling annual titles around, as can be seen from the UK chart performances for FIFA 21. The game's Ultimate Team mode has been a big moneymaker for the franchise and EA, so it will be interesting to see what happens if some kind of official legislation comes down to restrict it in some way.
— FUT Watch (@FutWatch) December 8, 2020
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