Project CARS 3 Trailer Asks What Drives You
Slightly Mad Studios' Project CARS 3 is one of the bigger releases this month, which is saying a lot considering August's roster. A new trailer has been revealed called "What Drives You" and shows off multiple aspects of the game at a glance. Check it out below.
Along with providing a look at some of the environments, the trailer also highlights what will keep you busy. This includes earning Credits and XP from races, buying new cars from over 200 available, customizing them and much more. Driver personalization is also a thing, allowing players to outfit their virtual avatar with different outfits and helmets.
Project CARS 3 is out on August 28th for Xbox One, PS4 and PC. It includes a free Ignition Pack with license plate styles, rims, tires, patterns, liveries and decals along with two drivers and several outfits. The offer is only valid until September 27th so act fast. Standard and Deluxe Editions are available to pre-order with the latter offering early access three days in advance and the Season Pass, which contains four DLC packs.
Marvel's Avengers – New Heroes' Stories Focus on Meeting the Main Cast
There's quite a lot to look forward to with Marvel's Avengers, especially with the massive beta that starts this month. However, the real journey begins after launch with new raid-like missions and new heroes coming to the roster. The first new hero is Hawkeye who will have his own Hero Missions and story.
In a recent Reddit AMA, War Zones director Philippe Therien talked about how these story missions would focus more on meeting up with the main Avengers cast as opposed to being standalone tales. "Our goal is to create heroes that bring something new to the table but don't dramatically alter the power curve in a way where the older heroes' become outdated.
"As far as storytelling goes, we are going to focus stories around the new heroes meeting up with the Avengers so our strategy is to treat past heroes' as the Avengers team rather than trying to focus too much on narrow silos of stories. HOWEVER and that's a big however, it doesn't mean we won't have interactions between new heroes and existing Avengers, that's something we are super passionate about!"
How often will new heroes be released? The development team obviously wants them out quickly but isn't rushing things. "Timing to be announced but we are trying to make this as fast as possible. We are taking our time to make sure the Hero's bring something to the table that is new and fun," said Therien.
He also confirmed that new content would be delivered at "varying frequencies". "I don't want to promise anything until its announced but we have ideas for Weekly/Monthly and longer term content drops. We will give you some updates on that soon as its all final and approved."
The beta for Marvel's Avengers begins on August 7th to 9th for PS4 pre-orders. Xbox One and PC pre-orders can play on August 14th to 16th while players on all platforms can jump in on August 21st to 23rd regardless of pre-order status. Beta content is fairly vast and includes the A-Day Prologue, two Hero Missions, several Drop Zones and War Zones, HARM Rooms, Primary Skill customization and much more.
Marvel's Avengers launches on September 4th for Xbox One, PS4, PC and Stadia. It will also be coming to Xbox Series X and PS5 before the year is out.
PS5 Games Not Compatible With DualShock 4 Controller, Sony Confirms
Much has been said about the PS5's new controller design, the DualSense. Not only will it get the most radical design we've seen from the company's controller since the original PlayStation days, a lot of developers seem to be excited about some new features such as adaptive triggers and haptic feedback, and if you want play PS5 games, you'll definitely need it.
In a new official PlayStation blog post, Sony confirmed that PS5 games will not be forward compatible with the PS4 DualShock 4 controller. While that's been standard for generational shifts, of course, some people hoped that Sony would follow Microsoft who are allowing forward compatibility between Xbox One and Xbox Series X controllers. You can however play PS4 titles with the DualShock 4 that are backwards compatible if you so desire.
As far as other accessories, that's a bit more positive as the Gold and Platinum headsets are confirmed to continue working for the PS5, as well as the PS Move Controllers and VR Aim Controller will work on supported games. The PlayStation Camera will also work, but it will need an adapter which the post says will be provided. While the DualShock 4 will not work with PS5 games, it does seem as if select specialty peripherals, such as " officially licensed racing wheels, arcade sticks, and flight sticks" will still work cross gen. You can read the blog post in full through here, or see the summary notes below.
As it stands now, we still don't have a release date or price for the PlayStation 5, but it is slated to come out this holiday season.
- Specialty peripherals, such as officially licensed racing wheels, arcade sticks, and flight sticks, will work with PS5 games and supported PS4 games.
- The Platinum and Gold Wireless Headsets, as well as third-party headsets that connect via USB port or audio jack, will work on PS5 (the headset companion app is not compatible with PS5).
- The DualShock 4 wireless controller and PlayStation officially licensed third-party gamepad controllers will work with supported PS4 games.
- Both the PS Move Motion Controllers and the PlayStation VR Aim Controller will work with supported PS VR games on PS5.
State of Play Announced for August 6, But Don't Expect Any Big PS5 Announcements
Following multiple leaks and rumours over the months (and even more of them of late) that Sony will be hosting a State of Play broadcast in early August, it's now officially been confirmed. Taking to Twitter via the official PlayStation page, Sony have confirmed a State of Play broadcast for this Thursday, August 6, at 1 PM Pacific Time.
Don't get too excited though. In an effort to have their messaging be as clear and transparent as possible, Sony have succinctly laid out in their announcement tweet what you should expect from the show. There will be no new big PS5 announcements- which, considering all the recent talk about Sony having more major third party games to talk about, comes as a bit of a surprise.
So what should you expect? Well, there will be some updates on some of the third party games and indie titles that were shown off during June's PS5 reveal event, though they're going to be "quick check-ins" only. Still, hopefully we'll hear more about the likes of Kena: Bridge of Spirits and Resident Evil Village (which is supposed to receive a new trailer this month, apparently).
Beyond that, the focus of the show is apparently primarily going to be on current-gen hardware, with Sony saying that the broadcast will focus on upcoming PS4 and PSVR games. It should be interesting to see if there will be any major announcements for the PS4, especially with PlayStation exec Eric Lempel recently having said that there's still plenty more to come for Sony's current-gen console.
According to Sony, the episode is over 40 minutes long and has "a great lineup in store featuring plenty of new gameplay footage and other game updates", so it should be interesting to see what it has in store.
Either way, we'll keep you updated on all the news that comes out of the show, so stay tuned.
State of Play returns Thursday at 1:00pm Pacific!
What to expect:
A focus on upcoming PS4 & PS VR games
Tune-in details: https://t.co/kgrDFZsHd2 pic.twitter.com/9AIPFnh3CT
— PlayStation (@PlayStation) August 3, 2020
No More Heroes 1 Rated for Switch in Taiwan
No More Heroes is primed to re-enter the spotlight in a big way with No More Heroes 3 scheduled for launch later this year, but before we step into the franchise's future, we might be getting a chance to revisit its past one more time.
As spotted by Gematsu on Twitter, the first No More Heroes – which first launched on the Wii in 2008 (or 2007, if you were in Japan) – recently received an age rating for the Nintendo Switch in Taiwan. There's been no official announcement of the game yet, but age ratings have often been an early source for news on upcoming releases before they've been officially confirmed.
Besides, with No More Heroes 3 in the pipeline, it's not a stretch to imagine that Grasshopper Manufacture will want to get more people into its predecessors as well. In fact, this is something that director Suda51 said not too long ago was actually being discussed. That said, until we do hear something official, it's best not to put too much stock in this… for now, at any rate.
Meanwhile, No More Heroes 3 is due out exclusively for the Switch in 2020, but doesn't yet have a specific launch date.
No More Heroes rated for Switch in Taiwan https://t.co/8xouicHW7p pic.twitter.com/7PJPOEKODc
— Gematsu (@gematsucom) August 3, 2020
Shin Megami Tensei 3: Nocturne HD Remaster Gets Slew Of New Screenshots And Character Portraits
Last month, we got the surprise announcement that Shin Megami Tensei 3: Nocturne would be getting a HD remaster. The game has long been one of the most acclaimed RPGs from the PS2 era that hadn't been brought over to modern consoles, so it was a treat for fans ahead of next years release of Shin Megami Tensei 5. And now, we got a slew of new screens and character stills to highlight what you can expect.
The game's Director said they hoped to improve the visuals for the game, but also keep the look and style of the original PS2 release. As you can see below, it seems they've done a good job. The original game follows an unnamed protagonist who lives an ordinary life until the apocalypse occurs, and he awakens to a world of demons and strange characters, while having mysterious new supernatural abilities. The game was noted for its darker and more muted look, and it seems the remaster captures that pretty well, and highlights some of the characters you'll interact with.
Shin Megami Tensei 3: Nocturne HD Remaster will release for both PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch October 29th in Japan, though unfortunately those of us in the west will have to wait until 2021.
Othercide Interview – Art Style, Classes, Battles, and More
The turn-based tactics genre is one that inherently attracts audiences, but even among those, Lightbulb Crew's Othercide immediately stands out from the crowd. At first glance, its striking monochromatic aesthetic with shocking flashes of red catches the eye, and when you look deeper, the promise of its fascinating setting and rich, deep mechanics and battles hint at exciting potential. And if the game's reception from audiences and critics alike since its recent launch is anything to go by, it seems like that potential is something Othercide makes good on. Wanting to learn more about the game and what makes it tick, shortly before its launch, we sent across some of our most burning questions about it to its developers. You can read our interview with Larsson Anders (creative director and CEO of Lightbulb Crew) and Chaudret Alexandre (art director) below.
NOTE: This interview was conducted prior to the game's launch.
"We wanted Othercide to stick out in the tactical genre and be immediately recognizable in a genre full of sci-fi, military, or heroic-fantasy universes and add a different flavor with a dark, grim, gruesome horror-themed vibe."
Othercide features a striking, beautiful visual aesthetic- can you talk us through the process of how you landed on this art style for the game
Chaudret Alexandre (Art Director): One funny thing about art direction, is how much it's a balance between impulses and iterations over a long time: it is very much a consideration of choice and consequence. We wanted Othercide to stick out in the tactical genre and be immediately recognizable in a genre full of sci-fi, military, or heroic-fantasy universes and add a different flavor with a dark, grim, gruesome horror-themed vibe.
The idea of creating an "in-between two worlds" vibe, pinned on the edge of dreams and nightmares, drove the entire project into those twisted realms of symbolism and ethereal concepts. We tried to tie each element to the lore, as each single creature or environment is part of the multiple traumas of our main villain, the Child.
The strongest choice we made was to go all out on the black, white and red aesthetic, as we felt it depicted the "noir" and nightmarish feeling we wanted perfectly. Did you know that some people dream exclusively in black and white? This direction brought a lot of constraints, but pushed the art team to be creative in thinking of how to give the game a "soul".
Othercide's horror vibes certainly give it a very unique identity. Is that something that will play a big role in the game's world and its story?
Alexandre: When Othercide deals with "horror", don't expect jump scares and flashlight gameplay! Our game deals with the dark psychological mood aspect of "horror", trauma and metaphors. There is a certain beauty to be found in horror; there can't be a beautiful light without an incredible shadow being cast.
The real horror comes when you ask yourself "why does this monster look like that, has this sound design, moves that way", rather than being shocked by blood or a loud noise! The entire game and story were built with this mood in mind, and we think it's created quite an interesting take on the tactical genre that usually keeps away from those themes.
Given Othercide's fascinating premise and what seems like a very rich world, how much of an emphasis can players expect the game to put on worldbuilding and storytelling?
Alexandre: The story is in the image of the game and its art direction: it is ethereal, a symbolic struggle that goes beyond the battle between the Daughters and the Suffering Other. If it can seem quite cryptic at first, it slowly unveils as the players goes through the campaign. The story is presented in a minimalistic fashion through cut-scenes and moments in the game, in a way that allows players that only focus on the challenge of the game itself do so, and still get introduced to the universe hidden behind the dark curtain. For players that want to dig into the universe and the background of the main characters, there is an epic melancholic story to discover as the game goes on and you find memories to bury yourself in!
"When we set out to make Othercide, we noticed that some of the leaders in the genre maybe make great games, but would make pretty terrible action movies!"
Othercide's Dynamic Timeline System is perhaps one of its most intriguing mechanics, one that looks like it will set it apart from other tactics games. What can you tell us about it, and the biggest ways it influences battles?
Larsson Anders (Creative Director / CEO): When we set out to make Othercide, we noticed that some of the leaders in the genre maybe make great games, but would make pretty terrible action movies! We wanted to recreate those epic situations where the bad guy gets interrupted in the last moment just as he is about to take out the hero. The Dynamic Timeline System is what makes this possible.
Many games have dealt with initiative, the order in which each character acts, in different ways including tabletop RPGs going back to DnD, many video games and now also board games. The Dynamic Timeline System is unique in the way it takes a central place in deciding your strategy and tactics.
Every move you make needs to be thought of in terms of the order that enemies and allies will act. Every move also comes with a choice, if you use too many action points, you will be set back further in the timeline and potentially act after enemies, exposing you to getting hit. To increase the reactivity, we introduced different types of actions: Direct actions happen immediately, while Delayed actions, and actions over time land after they are used. Finally, Reactions and Interruptions are prepared in advance and then respond to criteria, for example interrupting a melee attack, or reacting to an enemy taking damage.
Can you talk us through the different class options for the Daughters, and the biggest ways they differentiate from each other?
Alexandre: Each Daughter is a replica of an aspect of a great warrior, the Mother, that has been fighting the Others for centuries. Her memories were brought to life and created a legion of fierce warriors, ready to fight, fall and rise again to protect the Veil.
At the beginning of the game, you will have three classes to play with. The Blademaster, a lethal and powerful slayer with a giant sword, that can take down a creature in one blow but is very fragile when overexposed. She can be protected by the Shieldbearer, a tank type with a spear and a shield that can either save her sisters or delay the actions of the enemies. The third class is a mix of ranged attacks and support for the other Daughters: the Soulslinger uses a pair of giant pistols as well as esoteric psychic powers.
In addition to their natural skills, each Daughter is born with her own stats, and the more she gets into battle, the more she evolves to become a unique part of your army. Through "Traits" triggered by their actions on the battlefield, each Daughter receives passive bonuses that can really be big game changers for your team. You can also customize their skills by assigning "Memories" gems, and therefore prepare an ultimate team with its own advantages and flaws.
The concept of sacrificing one character to heal another is an intriguing one- what can you tell us about that?
Alexandre: Othercide is about hard choices: what will you sacrifice in order to survive? Who shall fall and who shall rise again? As you noticed, there is no healer class in the Daughter classes. The only way to heal a Daughter is to sacrifice another. But, in addition to the health regeneration, the sacrificed Daughter will give a part of her soul to the healed one, granting her with bonuses depending on class and level. It is a very powerful mechanism, and if it feels difficult at first to "sacrifice" your Daughters, it becomes a natural handover ritual from the older Daughters to the newest ones.
The entire game hinges upon around this idea of falling and rising again, and this theme is seen across many of the game's aspects and your journey: defeat monstrous creatures to make your Daughters stronger, heal the ones that got wounded by sacrificing the others, grow the ultimate team and try to vanquish the bosses. Even death is not an end, and there are many ways to rise again and again, until final victory.
"Othercide is about hard choices: what will you sacrifice in order to survive? Who shall fall and who shall rise again?"
Othercide promises that players will not only be able to shape the abilities of the Daughters, but also their personalities. How will that materialize in terms of gameplay mechanics?
Anders: Well actually the player's impact is indirect. The Daughters evolve with what happens to them in the game. If they are doing incredibly well their first mission, they can earn a positive trait that will make them better in the future. Failing in a mission and many other things can give traits that have negative aspects. Traits can really significantly change a Daughter and are reflections of what they have lived through.
Roughly how long will an average play through of Othercide be?
Anders: Othercide is different in that it is both the hardest game you have ever played and the easiest game you have ever played. The better you play the harder the challenge becomes, as a key part of becoming stronger is to then fail. This makes the expected playtime very different from person to person. We believe the game gives great value with its current pricing!
How is the game running on the original Xbox One and PS4, in terms of frame rate and resolution?
Anders: The game is running at a stable 30FPS at 1080P on both platforms.
What are the docked and undocked resolution and frame rate of the Switch version?
Anders: We are still working on the last modifications to the Switch. Our approach is to use flexible rendering to adapt the resolution of the 3D world to be able to keep the right trade-off between resolution and frame rate. The UI resolution is kept stable at 720p no matter what.
Given that next-gen consoles are right around the corner, have you given any thought to next-gen ports for the game?
Anders: We would love to make ports of Othercide to them. We will see when and if that happens.
"Othercide is different in that it is both the hardest game you have ever played and the easiest game you have ever played. The better you play the harder the challenge becomes, as a key part of becoming stronger is to then fail."
Since the reveal of the PS5 and Xbox Series X's specs, a lot of comparisons have been made between the GPU speeds of the two consoles' GPUs, with the PS5 at 10.28 TFLOPS and the Xbox Series X at 12 TFLOPS- but how much of an impact on development do you think that difference will have?
Anders: We have not gotten to this level of detail yet, but judging from the last generation of consoles it is likely that specific differences in architecture and tools between platforms will be more important than the pure HW specs. Also sure is that until developers have gotten used to the platforms idiosyncrasies their true capacity will not be reached.
The PS5 features an incredibly fast SSD with 5.5GB/s read bandwidth. This is faster than anything that is available out there. How can developers can take advantage of this and what will it result to, and how does this compare to Series X's 2.4GB/s read bandwidth?
Anders: Faster load times are really significant for the player experience. This might be the most significant update that can impact almost all games on the new consoles. The specific hardware specs are likely to not be the main differentiator for most games but rather the ability to handle it through tools etc. We will have to wait to see the effects.
There is a difference in the Zen 2 CPUs of both consoles. The Xbox series X features 8x Zen 2 Cores at 3.8GHz, whereas the PS5 features 8x Zen 2 Cores at 3.5GHz. Your thoughts on this difference?
Anders: I would think that especially here any differences in theoretical performance will be overtaken by the idiosyncrasies of each platform's architecture and tools.
So, there is a power difference between the two new consoles, there is no doubt about that. But do you think that power advantage of the Xbox Series X will matter given Microsoft's cross gen policy?
Anders: Each platform comes with the first party's own restrictions and regulations. What is sure is that for smaller developers it will be hard to make games that manage to take full use of the graphics opportunities in the new consoles while also releasing games on PS4/X1. Every developer will have to think hard where their efforts can pay off, given the type of game they are making.
Halo: The Master Chief Collection Plans For Both Crossplay And Mod Support
Right now, all eyes and attention are on Halo Infinite, the next game in the long running shooter series from Microsoft and 343 Industries. Much has been said about that title, from a reveal that was more polarizing than expected, to the recent revelation that the multiplayer will be free to play. But in the meantime, there's still a pretty massive amount of Halo history you can play through with Halo: The Master Chief Collection. And that game still has many updates planned.
Via a blog post on Halo Waypoint, the team broke down the many updates still planned for the game. Probably the biggest and most eye catching two are crossplay, which is said to be planned to come this year, and mod support, though that unfortunately has no time frame attached to it and the post says that has had to be pushed back. But that's not all as Mouse and Keyboard support is planned for Xbox One, as well as things like PC fileshare, double keyboard binds for all games, and more. You can read the full post here, or see all the planned 2020 features listed below.
Halo: The Master Chief Collection is available for Xbox One and PC.
FEATURES PLANNED FOR RELEASE IN 2020
- Crossplay
- Input Based MM
- Sever Region Selection
- Custom Game Browser
- Per Game Graphics Options
- Per Game Audio Options
- M&K Support for Xbox
- PC Fileshare
- Double Keybinds for all games
- Viewmodel adjustments for all games
- In game FPS Cap/Adjustments
- Steam Account Linking
Dynasty Warriors Celebrates 20 Years With Trailer Of Series Evolution
Regardless of what anyone thinks of the genre, the mousu has become something of a staple for Japanese gaming. There's been multiple different franchises in the genre, as well as popular franchises like The Legend of Zelda, Fire Emblem and Dragon Quest having spin-offs in that style. But it all began with Dynasty Warriors, and today the publisher celebrated two decades of that hack and slash.
The company released two trailers, one in English and one in Japanese, to highlight the linage of the titles. It actually begins with Dynasty Warriors 2, as the the first game was a fighting game. It only covers the Dynasty Warriors titles, not its many offshoots, and shows how the games have changed (and not changed all that much, either, frankly). The last game in the franchise was Dynasty Warriors 9 in 2018, which saw mixed reception from fans.
A website popped up earlier this year for the 20th anniversary, hinting at a new game coming this year, but since then nothing has been said nor is that hinted at in either trailer.
15 Best PlayStation Exclusive Boss Fights
Throughout the long and storied history of PlayStation, Sony's family of devices has played host to countless games that have offered up some truly amazing boss fights that stand out in our memories to this day, either because of how dramatic they were, or how challenging they were, or how fun they were, or any number of other reasons. In this feature, we're going to talk about fifteen such boss fights.
NOTE: There will be spoilers ahead for all games mentioned in this feature, so if we're talking about a game you want to avoid spoilers for, skip ahead to the next entry.
CRONOS (GOD OF WAR 3)
The Cronos boss fight in God of War 3 is the perfect encapsulation of everything this series is about. The sheer scope of this entire fight is simply staggering, and the brutality that Kratos exhibits while taking the Titan down – from ripping off his fingernail to stabbing him through the throat – are the epitome of that era of God of War. In God of War (2018), when Atreus sees a dragon and asks Kratos if he can kill something that big, it's hard not to laugh and immediately think back to the time he killed a creature literally the size of a mountain.