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GhostWire: Tokyo Delayed to Early 2022

Tango Gameworks' GhostWire: Tokyo is the latest Bethesda-published title to be delayed. Unlike Deathloop, however, it's going to be skipping 2021 and releasing in early 2022 instead. In a recent statement on Twitter, the developer said that it wanted to "get the game in your hands as soon as possible" but also wanted to focus on "protecting the health of everyone at Tango."

"Our new release window will give us time to bring the world of GhostWire to life as we've always envisioned it." The developer said it "can't wait to show you more in the coming months" so at the very least, there should be new details and gameplay footage revealed. Such a delay isn't surprising though – Tango Gameworks is based in Tokyo and the Government of Japan recently declared another state of emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Announced in 2019, GhostWire: Tokyo would see its gameplay revealed at Sony's PS5 event last year. While there hasn't been a ton of new gameplay footage since then, the developer has provided more details on DualSense controller support along with confirming ray tracing on the console. GhostWire: Tokyo will be a timed exclusive to PS5 for one year after its release but will also launch day one on PC. Stay tuned for more information in the coming months.

NieR: Automata Steam Patch Releases July 15th, Adds Borderless Video and 60 FPS Cutscenes

Announced back in April, Square Enix has finally confirmed a release date for NieR: Automata's Steam patch. It will go live on July 15th and promises to add a variety of settings including Borderless video mode. Fidelity FX CAS and HDR support are also being added (with the game automatically launching in HDR mode if your system has it active).

Anti-aliasing is seeing some adjustments while textures for icons, UI elements and backdrops are being updated to support 4K. Perhaps one of the best new features is that pre-rendered cutscenes will now run in 60 FPS and display in the correct aspect ratio. Another new feature is Global Illumination, which can be set to Low, Medium or High, while ambient occlusion and bloom effects are now dynamic resolution (based on the resolution one is playing at).

Various stability and bug fixes are also included like the frame rate being at 60 FPS under normal settings, the mouse cursor not displaying when using a controller, and the ability to switch between display modes like Fullscreen and Windowed or Borderless and Windowed. Given the controversy over NieR: Automata's PC version on Steam, these fixes look like a dream come true for players. Stay tuned for more details when it goes live.

Maneater DLC Launches on August 31

Maneater might not have been the best game you played in 2020, but it didn't have to be- it was an open world RPG that allowed you to play as a shark and munch on humans and other things besides while sowing chaos everywhere you went. With a premise like that, it was exactly as fun as it needed to be- and soon, we're getting more of its.

Tripwire Interactive confirmed not too long ago that an expansion titled Maneater: Truth Quest would be releasing soon. Now we know how soon. The DLC is out on August 31, and will take players to Site P, a place full of conspiracies, mysteries, dark secrets, and more opportunities to wreak havoc. Expect new evolutions, challenges, wildlife, enemies, and more.

Maneater: Truth Quest will launch for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One, and PC- a Nintendo Switch version of the DLC hasn't yet been confirmed. The DLC will cost $14.99 / €14.99 / £12.99.

Xbox Game Studios is Not Mandating Every Game to be Live Service

Despite numerous high-profile failures in the live service genre, many companies continue to pursue the model in some form or fashion. Xbox Game Studios is in an advantageous position with live service titles like Sea of Thieves and even Fallout 76 performing quite well. But that doesn't meant it's in a hurry to have every game be an "ongoing, sustained game" as per Matt Booty.

The Xbox Game Studios head told The Guardian that, "We don't have any direction or mandate that says every game has to be an ongoing, sustained game." Psychonauts, which has a sequel out on August 25th, and Double Fine Productions were provided as an example. "There might be a Psychonauts 3, but I'm not going to tell [designer] Tim Schafer to go make it. Knowing the history of games that he makes, I don't think he's going to be making a game that has seasons and goes on for five years."

Even with the success of games like Sea of Thieves and Halo Infinite delving into the live service model, Booty says that Xbox still values standalone titles. "Sea of Thieves has longevity and we're going to have Halo multiplayer start to be based around seasons, but Compulsion Games, our studio in Montreal, weren't told to go build something that's going to have seasons or six pieces of DLC or something. Tell Me Why was an important story for us to get out there, but there is no mandate that they've got to go figure out how to do seasons for that game."

Of course, this can also be seen in Halo Infinite which, despite having seasons and an evolving platform, is still providing a fairly robust campaign. As it stands, Xbox Game Studios has a lot in the pipeline for the coming years, from the next Fable and Forza Horizon 5 to Perfect Dark, State of Decay 3 and Avowed. This doesn't include projects where it's tying up with developers like Avalanche Studios for Contraband or IO Interactive for the rumored Project Dragon. To say that it has enough room for both live service and standalone, narrative-focused games would be an understatement.

Forza Horizon 5 Uses Ray-Tracing for its Audio Design

Forza Horizon games (all Forza games in general, in fact) always tend to be on the cutting edge of visuals with new entries, but at the same time, audio design is another area where the franchise has traditionally excelled. Forza Horizon 5 is obviously going to be no different, based on all that we've seen of it so far, and while we've gotten a pretty good taste of how good it's going to look, Playground Games are now providing more details on the advancements they've made for the game's audio as well.

Speaking in the latest Forza Horizon 5: Let's Go! episode (via VG247), the developers confirmed that the open world racer uses ray-tracing in its audio design as well. While visual ray-tracing is restricted to the game's vehicle viewing mode, Forzavista, in terms of audio design, it's much more crucial.

Essentially, the developers are using ray-tracing to make audio bounce off of objects in the environments much more realistically, including buildings, rocks, trees, and more. Distance and the nature of objects are constantly being detected, bringing about more authentic and varied audio design. So depending on where you're driving and how fast you're driving through those environments, you'll hear different sound effects.

For instance, the sound of your car driving through a town might sound crisp and loud, but if you're driving through a heavily forested area, that sound will be much more muffled. Lead audio designer Fraser Strachan also says that with spatial audio and with headphones on, the effect will be even more pronounced.

You can view the full episode below.

Forza Horizon 5 launches on November 9 for Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC.

Just Cause: Mobile Delayed to 2022

Announced at 2020's The Game Awards, Just Cause: Mobile was set to launch for iOS and Android devices some time in 2021, but Square Enix has now confirmed that plans have changed. In a recently published tweet, it was confirmed via the game's official Twitter account that its launch has been delayed, and is now scheduled for some time in 2022.

As you'd expect, it's due to development hurdles brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic that the game's launch has had to be delayed. That's not surprising in the slightest, and Just Cause: Mobile is far from the only game to have been hit with a delay due to the pandemic. "We've had to adjust to new ways of working and that has resulted in delays to our development schedule," the developer writes in a message.

Just Cause: Mobile will be a free-to-play action title with three fully open world maps, a campaign featuring characters from several Just Cause games, weapon upgrades, and various vehicles and gadgets to use. Outside of the campaign, the game will also have a multiplayer component.

Halo Encyclopedia Releasing in March 2022

With Halo Infinite out this year, 343 Industries and Dark Horse Comics are teaming up to release a new Halo Encyclopedia. Written by Jeff Easterling, Jeremy Patenaude and Kenneth Peters, it will release on March 29th 2022 and include about 500 pages of information on the franchise.

Estimated to be around 25 percent bigger than the last edition, the Halo Encyclopedia includes lore; images from the franchise's various books, games and media; and game assets which are "fresh and newly captured." There will be a "few cool things" introduced with the encyclopedia and you can also expect some details on Halo Infinite. Perhaps because it may contain spoilers for the game, it's coming later so that fans can go in blind.

Pre-order details for the Halo Encyclopedia will be "coming very soon" so stay tuned. As for Halo Infinite, it's currently slated to release this holiday season for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and PC. Flighting for its multiplayer technical preview is expected to begin this Summer though 343 Industries noted earlier this month that it was still evaluating the build.

Assassin's Creed Valhalla Hotfix Makes it Easier to Achieve Gold in Odin Mine Hideout Trial

Ubisoft is going big with its next Assassin's Creed, codenamed "Assassin's Creed Infinity", and offering an online live-service platform. But that's still a ways off – in the meantime, the development team is still supporting Assassin's Creed Valhalla. Following the release of the Mastery Challenge mode last month, a new hotfix has been released that addresses the scoring in one of the trials.

The hotfix makes one key change by reducing the scoring associated with each action for getting Gold in the Trial of the Wolf: Odin Mine Hideout. This was done because guards in the trial ended up killing each other, which made it tougher for the player to score enough kills for the Gold rank. Though this is the only change with the hotfix, expect more updates en route to the next paid DLC.

The Siege of Paris is the next DLC and will be releasing this Summer for all platforms. Ubisoft hasn't outlined the content included there will be "black box" missions that provide carte blanche on how players want to infiltrate. You can also expect new abilities and equipment as well. Support for Assassin's Creed Valhalla will continue with expansions planned for release next year.

Company of Heroes 3 Announcement Seemingly Being Teased

Fans of the real-time strategy genre have been starved for major new releases these past few years, but it seems like the tide is about to shift soon. Former Blizzard veterans at newly formed studios such as Dreamhaven and Frost Giant Studios are working on new strategy games, while Age of Empires 4 is also coming later this year. Of course, Relic Entertainment's beloved World War 2-themed series Company of Heroes is a particular favourite of genre fans, and it seems like it might be coming back soon.

Over on their Twitch channel, Relic are teasing what seems to be an imminent announcement for Company of Heroes 3. They've got a countdown running in a video with a view of Italy on a world map, with sounds of gunfire and explosions clearly heard in the background. The countdown is set to end later today at 10 AM PT. 

A new Company of Heroes game is long overdue at this point. Company of Heroes 2 came out all the way back in 2013, and it got its last major expansion, The British Forces, in 2015. 

Of course, Relic Entertainment have other irons in the fire as well, as developers of the aforementioned Age of Empires 4, which launches on October 28.

Shin Megami Tensei 5 Video Showcases Leveling up and Stats

Atlus has been promoting Shin Megami Tensei 5 on the regular with daily videos of the 214 Demons that players can battle, recruit and fuse throughout their strange journey. In a new short video on Twitter, the developer highlighted how leveling works. Like previous titles, leveling up grants points that can be distributed to five stats.

The stats in question are Strength, Body, Magic, Speed and Luck so if you increase Strength, then physical attacks will deal more damage. Body or Vitality increases your HP while Luck influences the ability to attack first, make successful retreats and so on. In Shin Megami Tensei 3: Nocturne HD Remaster, certain stats needed to be increased to open doors in the Labyrinth of Amala so it should be interesting to see if that's repeated here.

Shin Megami Tensei 5 is out on November 12th, exclusively for the Nintendo Switch. For a better look at the combat and negotiations necessary to have Demons join your side, check out some extended gameplay here. Stay tuned for more details in the meantime.