Final Fantasy 14 is Sold Out Even Digitally on the Square Enix Store
Final Fantasy 14 is without a doubt one of the best comeback stories for a video game- what started out as an abysmal failure is currently one of the most popular and highly rated MMORGPs in the industry, and incredibly enough, it's a game that keeps on expanding and somehow improving with each new major expansion. Ahead of the launch of its next expansion with Endwalker later this year, the game has been enjoying another surge in popularity.
As pointed out by a Reddit user, Final Fantasy 14 is sold out even digitally on the Square Enix store. It seems there's a waiting list for the game on the store right now, which is supposedly out of stock. That either means Square Enix has run out of pre-generated codes, or their servers are at capacity- either way, clearly the game's seeing more activity than they had anticipated.
At last count a couple of months ago, Final Fantasy 14 had 22 million registered users, but ahead of Endwalker's launch, that number is likely seeing a lot of growth. Square Enix has said that Endwalker is seeing a great deal more pre-orders than Shadowbringers, the previous expansion, and that they plan on making a "multi-million dollar" investment to expand the game's servers.
Final Fantasy 14 is available on PS5, PS4, and PC. Endwalker launches on November 23. Check out the expansion's system requirements for PC through here.
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD Features an Autosave System
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD is looking like a pretty conservative remaster of the original Wii title, to the extent that there are many who are wondering whether the game should be sold at full-price (which is often with case with Nintendo re-releases). Even so, the game is going to have some new features, and Nintendo has been advertising those of late.
One of these is autosaving. Yeah, that's a new feature. Meanwhile, if you save manually at a Bird Statue, you will now also be able to choose from one of three available slots, rather than locking you to one single slow as the original did, which means you can now make multiple copies of a single save. So… not exactly cutting edge features, but, you know- good to have nonetheless.
Meanwhile, Skyward Sword HD is also going to have improved motion controls, rebalanced tutorials, quality of life improvements, a "smoother" experience in its opening section, and more. All of this is, of course, on top of the visual and performance improvements and the new button control scheme.
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD launches for the Switch on July 16.
The Legend of #Zelda: #SkywardSwordHD features an autosave system that saves your progress at regular intervals. If you save at a Bird Statue, you can now choose from one of the three available slots to save to. pic.twitter.com/j23GgYZPla
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) July 12, 2021
Gran Turismo 7 Might be Getting a Beta Soon
Thanks to its delay, Gran Turismo 7 isn't coming out until some time in 2022, much later than what we had previously anticipated, but it's possible that players will still get the chance to play the racing sim before it releases in full. As spotted by GT Planet, the Experience PlayStation page may have spilled the beans on an upcoming beta for the game.
A couple of steps on the page require you to select "Start Quest", head to the "Related Campaigns" section, and then select "Italia Quest". Interestingly enough, "Gran Turismo Beta (Test)" is listed under the section, and after watching ten seconds of the game's announcement trailer, a beta code is generated for you to redeem. The code that is generated (1234-5678-9012) is just a placeholder though and doesn't actually work when you try to redeem it, which means that perhaps Sony is testing the platform for an upcoming beta, and maybe this went live before it was supposed to.
Until such time Sony actually confirms something, it's best to take this with a grain of salt. A beta test for the game wouldn't exactly be surprising though, especially given the fact that Gran Turismo Sport received a beta prior to its launch as well.
Gran Turismo 7 is currently slated for a 2022 launch, and will release for both PS5 and PS4.
Death Stranding Director's Cut Should Not be Called "Director's Cut" – Hideo Kojima
Death Stranding Director's Cut's name has caught the eye of many, mostly because- well, because it doesn't make much sense. The original release was already basically a director's cut, what with Kojima having made it with his own independent studio and having had full creative control over what shape the game takes and what is and isn't included in the final product.
As it turns out, Kojima himself, too, thinks the upcoming PS5 version of the game shouldn't be called "Director's Cut." In a couple of recently published tweets, Kojima pointed out that a director's cut for a movie usually includes scenes that were removed from the original cut against the director's wishes for some reason or the other, and since Death Stranding Director's Cut isn't about adding in cut content as much as it is about adding completely new content, in his opinion, it shouldn't be called that.
Perhaps the same can also be said about the upcoming Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut, and one might be led to wonder if the naming convention is perhaps a Sony decision more than it is a developer decision.
Either way, Death Stranding Director's Cut is out for the PS5 on September 24.
2/2
In the game, it is not what was cut, but what was additionally produced that was included. Delector's Plus? So, in my opinion, I don't like to call "director's cut".— HIDEO_KOJIMA (@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) July 12, 2021
Recent developments have certainly given the very strong impression that Sega has big plans for the Yakuza's spinoff series, Judgment. Not only is the publisher pushing for global simultaneous launches to be able to sell more copies of its releases, seeing as developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio recently confirmed that Judgment would be their brawler action series going forward while Yakuza stuck with its new RPG formula, you'd be forgiven for thinking that the future looks bright for Judgment.
However, it seems that Lost Judgment, the second game in the series, might also end up being the last one. That's according to a report published by Japanese outlet Nikkan Taishu, based on insider information. Allegedly, Sega and Johnny and Associates, the talent agency for actor Takuya Kimura, who plays the role of Judgment protagonist Takayuki Yagami, and that disagreement has led to what might be the end of the series.
Apparently, the two parties have failed to reach an agreement over which platforms the Judgment games should be sold on. Sega wants to release the Judgment games on PC, but the talent agency – which has a reputation for not exactly being completely in the know with technology and the internet – doesn't want the work of Kimura to be distributed on a platform it doesn't consider to be related to gaming. Apparently, the fact that PCs are connected to the internet is also a problem- which is strange, because so is every other console, especially the cloud-centric Stadia, which recently saw the launch of Judgment Remastered.
Given the fact that basically every Yakuza game is available now on PC, and that Sega clearly views PC as an important platform, the discrepancy of the Judgment games skipping PC hasn't gone unnoticed- and would certainly be explained by Johnny and Associates' meddling, who have proven to exert far too much control over their clients' activities, especially when it comes to the internet and social media. Sega has previously only said that it currently has no plans for bring Lost Judgment to the PC.
Of course, this is all still unconfirmed and unverified, so it might be best to wait for official word from Sega on this.
When Lost Judgment does release on September 24, it'll be available for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, and Xbox One.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl is Looking Like a Proper 9th Gen Graphical Showcase
15 years after the original game launched, and following the closure and improbable rebirth of its studio, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl is finally getting a proper sequel. The cult shooter-RPG hybrid from Ukrainian developer GSC Game World still retains a dedicated fanbase, thanks to a combination of realistic shooting action and an incredible, oppressive atmosphere unlike just about anything else. The only real comparison here would be to the Metro series, and that makes sense considering that 4A Games was founded by ex-GSC devs.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. fans are so committed that, after GSC's demise, they even took things into their own hands and released S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Anomaly, a full-fledged fan sequel to the original game, running on GSC's X-Ray engine.
When Microsoft and GSC announced a while back that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 was real, they were met with equal parts amazement and disbelief. You see, this wasn't the first time GSC had worked on a S.T.A.L.K.E.R. sequel. Back in 2012, the developer had canned their original attempt at S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, built around the then-next gen Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Shortly afterwards, GSC itself imploded. Franchises have disappeared off the face of the earth after a lot less: we've had no word on Dead Space, for instance, simply because the third entry didn't do that great sales-wise.
Miraculously, GSC's original owner was able to regain control over the studio and IP.
Fast forward again to last month's Xbox event at E3 and its now evident that, not only is S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 a real game, it's one of the most spectacular demonstrations of ninth-gen visual prowess we've seen till date. Our TL;DR tech analysis? This looks absolutely insane!
Let's take a closer look, though. Back from the dead, and with a decade and two console generations worth of technology progress to leverage, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl is most definitely worth it.
Next-gen character rendering
One of the real standouts of the gameplay trailer was just how great S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl's character models looked. We're looking at polygon counts that could be in the low six-figures, for some stunningly lifelike character closeups. It's interesting to note here that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Call of Pripyat, the last game in the series, pioneered tessellation as a DX11 technique back in 2009, specifically to round out surfaces like character helmets. Here, we're seeing GSC leverage the raw horsepower of modern consoles and PCs to add real geometric detail.
High poly counts aren't the entire story. We're also seeing some excellent skin rendering and what looks like some of the most convincing hair we've seen till date in a video game. Hair follicle counts appear to be in the thousands. In closeup shots of a character with long hair, we're seeing a degree of fineness to the individual hairs that goes well beyond what was possible last generation, even with proprietary tech like NVIDIA Hairworks.
Enhanced animations
The original S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games weren't well known for complex character animations. Everything from stiff facial rigging during conversations to enemy movement highlighted the X-ray engine's early 2000s origin. Here, we're looking at a massively overhauled solution.
This enables complex movements like the brief scene where Bolshak danced. Even in comparison to heavy hitters like Red Dead Redemption 2, the animation work here is just remarkably fluid. We're seeing Unreal 4's IK (inverse kinematics) solution in action here allowing for small movements – like when a character flexes their fingers – to animate smoothly. Things aren't quite at the level of something like, say, The Last of Us Part 2, but this is definitely a generational leap for S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
Ray tracing and advanced lighting
Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition showed us what was possible when you leverage RTX ray-tracing in an atmospheric post-Soviet setting. We're looking at something similar in Heart of Chernobyl. The gameplay trailer highlights ray-traced reflections, adding immensely to the atmosphere in swampy areas and damp interiors. We're also seeing what looks like a ray-traced global illumination system. This brings desolate building interiors to life, with areas of deep, deep shade and realistic indirect lighting.
The ray-traced lighting and reflections also offer a big boost to anomaly visuals. This is particularly the case with electrical anomalies seen towards the end of the trailer.
Heart of Chernobyl makes great use of volumetric effects. This is noticeable both in a stormy exterior scene and the interior of what looks like a laboratory. Volumetrics are at a high resolution here. We do expect GSC to pare things down a bit in the final code, at least on consoles.
Heart of Chernobyl uses physically-based material rendering – as is standard in modern games. It's worth noting, however, to highlight the massive leap from earlier S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games. GSC Game World used real-life photos of the Chernobyl exclusion zone to author the textures for 2007's Shadow of Chernobyl. In certain situations, this had eerily lifelike results. However, because physically correct – and thanks to the X-ray engine's rather simple dynamic lighting, these textures often felt "off." Here in Heart of Chernobyl, we're seeing a similar approach. But thanks to the use of physically accurate material rendering, Heart of Chernobyl's textures are frequently photorealistic, bringing the Exclusion Zone to life with unprecedented detail.
Conclusion
With Unreal 5 announced recently, and currently in early access, you'd be forgiven for thinking that Heart of Chernobyl's visuals are out of date since it's built on the "old" Unreal 4. Using an older engine doesn't necessarily mean poorer visuals. Arkham Knight, for example, one of the best-looking titles in the eighth-gen, was built on Unreal 3. GSC leverages the complete suite of scalable UE4 capabilities in Heart of Chernobyl to create something that genuinely looks "ninth-Gen," a clear step over the cross-Gen content we've seen so far. It'll be particularly interesting to see how the game stacks up in terms of visuals to Chernobylite. This is a S.T.A.L.K.E.R.-inspired survival horror shooter that's leaving early access this month and also runs on UE4. Thanks to photogrammetry and a generous draw distance, Chernobylite often looked and played like a next-gen S.T.A.L.K.E.R. We're looking forward to seeing how the final version stacks up.
Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin Sets New Record for JRPGs on Steam
Released on July 9th for Nintendo Switch and PC, Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin has already made a strong impact. Along with UK physical sales being over twice that of its predecessor on Switch, it's set a new record for peak concurrent users of Japanese Role-Playing Games on Steam. According to SteamDB, its peak is 33,464 players with the previous record being held by Persona 4 Golden with 29,984 players.
As a sequel, Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin focuses on Red's descendant who's tasked with taking care of Razewing Ratha. The Monstie is considered to bring ruin to the world and it's the player's job to protect and raise it. Along the way, they'll meet various allies, gather other Monsties to fight with them and explore mysteries like the sudden disappearance of Rathalos.
For more details on Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin, check out our review here. A free trial is currently available for Switch and PC with progress carrying over into the full game. The first major update for the title is also going live this week and adds the Palamute from Monster Hunter Rise as a new Monstie. Additional Monsties and quests will also be coming post-launch.
Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart Reclaims Top Spot in UK Retail Charts
Gfk's UK physical retail sales charts for the week are out and Insomniac's Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart is back on top. According to GamesIndustry.biz, the PS5 exclusive saw a 187 percent increase in sales, allowing it to claim the number 1 spot from Mario Golf: Super Rush. New PS5 stock, coupled with it being included in console bundles, seems to have helped.
Said bundles also benefited Assassin's Creed Valhalla, which went from 17th to eighth place in the charts with a 77 percent week-on-week increase in sales. Oddworld: Soulstorm, which recently released in the region for PS4 and PS5, may have also gained a nice boost since it debuted at tenth place (with 48 percent of sales being on PS5).
In terms of brand new entries, Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin debuted in third place. Though it didn't beat Monster Hunter Rise's overwhelming performance, its sales are more than double that of the first game which released in September 2017 for the Nintendo 3DS. Check out the full GfK Top Ten for the week ending July 10th below.
| Last Week | This Week | Title |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | 1 | Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart |
| 2 | 2 | FIFA 21 |
| New Entry | 3 | Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin |
| 1 | 4 | Mario Golf: Super Rush |
| 3 | 5 | Mario Kart 8: Deluxe |
| 4 | 6 | Animal Crossing: New Horizons |
| 5 | 7 | Minecraft (Switch) |
| 17 | 8 | Assassin's Creed: Valhalla |
| 7 | 9 | Grand Theft Auto 5 |
| New Entry | 10 | Oddworld: Soulstorm |
FIFA 22 Costs $70 on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S
EA Sports finally unveiled the first trailer for FIFA 22 and outlined a number of features that fans could expect. This includes the implementation of HyperMotion Technology for animation purposes. However, much like Battlefield 2042, fans will have to pay extra if they want to experience the game on current-gen consoles.
A quick look at the PlayStation Store and Microsoft Store indicates that FIFA 22 will cost $70 on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. There is an upgrade option for those who want to play on PS4 and Xbox One first via EA's Dual Entitlement program. However, this is tied to the Ultimate Edition of the game which costs $100 and includes a current and previous gen version of FIFA 22.
Ultimate Team and Volta progress will carry over from PS4 to PS5 and Xbox One to Xbox Series X/S and players can switch back and forth as needed. However, any progress made in co-op Seasons, Online Seasons, Pro Clubs and Career Mode won't transfer over. Also, the Ultimate Edition is only available digitally. But hey, at least that sweet HyperMotion Technology is exclusive to Xbox Series X/S and PS5. That has to count for something.
FIFA 22 is out on October 1st for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5, PC and Google Stadia on October 1st. There will also be a FIFA 22 Legacy Edition available on Switch.
F1 2021 Launch Trailer Highlights Braking Point Action
The CEO and CFO of Codemasters are gone following the studio's acquisition by Electronic Arts but F1 2021 is still set for launch. To hype up the release this week, a new trailer has been released. Aside from the snazzy music, it helps to show off the new Braking Point story mode. Check it out below.
Braking Point is the story of Aiden Jackson, a rookie F2 driver who works his way up the ranks into Formula One. Along with choosing different teams like Alfa Romeo Racing and Racing Point (which becomes Aston Marin, like in the real world), players will garner rivals on the track. Devon Butler from the previous game returns and remains as abrasive as ever, adding even more tension into the mix.
In terms of new features, F1 2021 offers a two-player Career Mode, new rookies like Mick Schumacher, real season start for following the season alongside the real world and much more. The title is out on July 16th for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5 and PC. For more details, check out GamingBolt's interview with the developer here.