PCGamesN Sunday, June 19, 2022 1:18 PM  Bethesda's open-world games offer some of the best examples of freedom in gaming. They're true sandbox game experiences, so Starfield had me very excited - until studio head Todd Howard confirmed that there is no seamless space travel from planets to space. Basically, this means that you cannot get in your ship and fly it from a planet's surface directly to outer space and then go back down again. Instead, you get in your ship, presumably get a short cutscene of taking off, but don't have control over it until the ship is out in space. While you seemingly can land anywhere, it's just a matter of approaching the planet and selecting a point on a map - like fast travel. "People have asked, 'can you fly the ships straight down to the planet?' No," Todd Howard confirms, without ambiguity. "The on-surface is one reality, and when you're in space, it's another reality." As for why Bethesda decided not to allow players to seamlessly fly ships between space and planet surfaces, Howard says the team didn't want to spend time developing something "that's not that important to the player." RELATED LINKS: Starfield release date, Starfield ship design, Starfield Game Pass |
PCGamesN Sunday, June 19, 2022 1:09 PM  The ex-Witcher 3 devs at Fool's Theory - who previously released Seven: The Days Long Gone - have teamed up with Frostpunk studio 11 Bit to release a new RPG game codenamed Project Vitriol, which is described as "morally ambiguous" and "narrative-driven." Sounds like The Witcher, to us. Seven: The Days Long Gone released back in 2017 to a 'mostly positive' rating on Steam. It's an open-world action RPG game played from an overhead perspective, with an emphasis on stealth gameplay. The next game from Fool's Theory, Project Vitriol, is described as a new IP "targeted at mature recipients," which is "the largest project" the team has produced. CEO Jakub Rokosz, who was project lead on Seven and a quest designer on The Witcher 2 and 3, calls Project Vitriol "a deep, morally ambiguous narrative-driven RPG" all about "the esoteric side of reality, that dark part of the world that most of us don't see and are not aware of its existence." The game is set in Warsaw, Poland under imperial Russian rule at the start of the 20th century. |
PCGamesN Sunday, June 19, 2022 1:01 PM  The LEGO Star Wars games have always proven very popular, and that trend continues with news of the LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga sales numbers. The action-adventure game is a comprehensive take on all nine of the main series entries in the Star Wars franchise, from The Phantom Menace through to The Rise of Skywalker. It's one of the best Star Wars games on PC, and the latest entry to the brick-based series got off to a great start when it was announced that the co-op game had surpassed Elden Ring sales in its first week of release. Now, the LEGO Star Wars Twitter account has confirmed that the newest game in the series has reached a total player count of five million over the game's first four months on sale. In 2019, the official Star Wars website announced that the full LEGO Star Wars video game series has sold a combined 50 million copies worldwide across all its entries - which includes games centred on the previous two trilogies as well as one game based on the Star Wars: The Clone Wars film and animated series. RELATED LINKS: Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order gameplay, Best space games on PC |
PCGamesN Sunday, June 19, 2022 12:14 PM  One of the biggest problems for multiplayer games on PC has seemingly been removed, as Epic Games Store and Steam crossplay is now available - thanks to new cross-compatibility tools available for developers, which allow for play across different launchers. For any players migrating between Steam and the Epic Games Store, it can be a complete pain. While the likes of GOG Galaxy have long since added cross-compatibility with Epic Games Store and Steam, the two biggest storefronts on PC often find it difficult to co-exist - especially when players try to play games available on both launchers, like Dead by Daylight or Fall Guys, and find they're incompatible. That seems set to finally change, as Epic has published a new set of free "plug-and-play" PC tools that allow developers to easily implement crossplay support across launchers - all designed to "give developers everything they need to connect their game and community across platforms and stores." RELATED LINKS: Steam FAQ, Steam family sharing, Steam in-home streaming |
PCGamesN Sunday, June 19, 2022 12:03 PM  Among the vast number of Elden Ring bosses to be found in FromSoftware's expansive open world are several potent pairings, and now a roleplaying duo has taken it upon themselves to bring these tag teams into the RPG game's PvP fights. The pair has already adopted builds based on the Godskin duo and the Crucible Knight duo fights, and they go so far as to restrict themselves to moves utilised by the enemies themselves. User Mini_B3ast first posted a fight cosplaying and acting as the Godskin duo to the Elden Ring subreddit on June 18, and followed up with a scrap as Crucible Knights Ordovis and Siluria following positive reception to the first. Crucially, however, this isn't just a case of slapping on some armour and calling it a day - the two players do their best to ensure a fun, fair fight for their outnumbered opponent. Instead of both diving in simultaneously, the pair attack in rhythmic waves, leaving a few moments of downtime between attacks. They also stick to the movesets of the original enemies (or their closest equivalents), and don't run about or dodge-roll. In fact, they can't - Mini_B3ast notes that both they and their partner equip several heavy weapons in their reserve slots to leave themselves overencumbered, in an attempt to better replicate the actual boss fights. RELATED LINKS: The best Elden Ring builds, Elden Ring bosses, The best Elden Ring classes |
PCGamesN Sunday, June 19, 2022 11:08 AM  A new Fortnite survey sent out by Epic Games features a long list of potential collabs coming to the popular battle royale game. These possible future Fortnite skins include a wide range of bizarre franchises - could we see characters from Elden Ring, Pokémon, Knights of the Old Republic, and The Flintstones drop on the island? As spotted by @Guille_GAG on Twitter, the latest Epic survey for 2022 has been sent out to gauge interest in various franchises, streamers, and celebrities - and these surveys often result in at least a handful of Fortnite collabs. 2021's survey, for example, featured Spider-Man, Resident Evil's Jill Valentine, and Ryu from Street Fighter - all of which have ended up as Fortnite skins. The 2022 survey features an even wider range of names, making it difficult to determine which are teases and which are decoys. Several names have multiple entries, such as Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Elden Ring, Star Trek, DC Comics, Dead by Daylight, and Marvel. Others mentioned include characters from Resident Evil, Pokémon, GTA, Dragon Ball, and Rick and Morty. RELATED LINKS: Fortnite V-Bucks, Fortnite Skins, Fortnite Creative Codes |
PCGamesN Sunday, June 19, 2022 9:17 AM  The recent gameplay demo revealed a lot about how players can fight in Bethesda's eagerly-awaited space game, and it looks like the various Starfield weapons share a special feature that'll relieve no-HUD enthusiasts - an in-world ammo counter. We already know a lot about the Starfield guns shown off in the Xbox Showcase reveal, but now one fan of HUD-less immersive gaming has spotted that all of the RPG game's weapons have a built-in ammo counter display on them - a feature most Bethesda games leave out, with the exception of Prey. While some of these ammo counters are obvious - like the huge number display on the back of the pistol - others are more subtle. The laser rifle, for example, shows a charge meter rather than ammo, and another seems to show clicks instead. Furthermore, while user A-N-H says the double-barrelled shotgun is the only gun not to have the feature - which would be understandable - a closer look at the gameplay trailer reveals that it does. RELATED LINKS: Starfield release date, Starfield ship design, Starfield Game Pass |
PCGamesN Sunday, June 19, 2022 9:16 AM  Getting your hands on the best Diablo Immortal gems is a particularly taxing experience, as one of the game's most watched players has been finding out. Since reaching the RPG game's endgame, Diablo Immortal streamer Quin69 has been running repeated elder rifts in search of an elusive max rank five-star gem. Getting the best gems out of this requires a currency primarily obtained with real money - in fact, it's almost a requirement to spend money if you want to trade those gems. Quin69 has been buying plenty of the legendary crests used to ensure gem drops, backed by the funding of his viewers on Twitch. Yet the chance of a gem dropping at the highest possible rank, a five-star legendary gem, is still very small. So small in fact that, as of the time his first five-star gem dropped on June 18, Quin69 had spent a total of $25,165 NZD / £12,955 GBP / $15,888 USD attempting to get one. So, having finally obtained his white whale, how does Quin69 celebrate? "It's over," he whispers quietly into his microphone, before immediately exiting the game and uninstalling it from his computer. After a moment's pause, encouraged by his Twitch chat, he decides that this isn't a clear enough statement - so he reinstalls the game, destroys the gem by consuming it to power up a largely useless one-star gem, types his thanks to his Warband in the game's chat, and deletes his level 60 character altogether. Then, he starts playing The Quarry instead. RELATED LINKS: Diablo Immortal tier list, Diablo Immortal system requirements, Best Diablo Immortal builds |
Twinfinite Sunday, June 19, 2022 3:56 PM Developer Coffee Addict Studio and publisher Neon Doctrine announced a release date for their adventure game Hazel Sky. |
Twinfinite Sunday, June 19, 2022 1:23 PM Bandai Namco released a ton of screenshots, art, and detail of its upcoming action game SD Gundam Battle Alliance. |
Twinfinite Sunday, June 19, 2022 1:19 PM The circle crosshair is among the popular crosshairs and one that most seem to want. Here's how you can get a circle crosshair in Valorant. |
Twinfinite Sunday, June 19, 2022 11:52 AM Falcom announced that a life-sized statue has been sculpted to celebrate The Legend of Heroes: Kuro no Kiseki II – Crimson Sin. |
Twinfinite Sunday, June 19, 2022 11:37 AM Here's everything you need to know about Loyalty in Minecraft. |
Twinfinite Sunday, June 19, 2022 10:36 AM Long-running MMORPG Tera will be closing on June 30 and Gameforge and Krafton have published a video that serves as a farewell. |
Siliconera Sunday, June 19, 2022 3:00 PM
The Pixel Frames shadow boxes have been around for a while now. The idea is the line captures a classic retro game moment, typically an 8-bit or 16-bit scene. Each one is officially licensed, for the sake of accuracy and authenticity. They all add a bit of depth by placing elements on multiple layers. A number of different series, like Castlevania, appeared in the collection. Now the latest Pixel Frames scenes capture moments from the Mega Man, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Street Fighter series. And as always with these items, the impression left by the final piece varies depending on the scene chosen. All three of the Pixel Frames shadowboxes I examined were of the nine inch by nine inch variety. Each frame is black and about two inches thick. They also each include a silver metallic name plate sticker. A person can peel off the backing and apply as desired to the frame, with the game's title and release date noted. The shadowbox then has elements of a design appearing in a foreground layer, up to two midground layers, and a background layer. The result is, well, an image that might call to mind those old Sega 3D Classics entries on the Nintendo 3DS. You have a recognizable scene from a title, only with added depth to provide some extra context. The company uploads YouTube Shorts videos, to offer a better sense of how it works.
As for how well different ones work, it all depends on the design. Of course, someone is going to be partial to ones based on titles they love. But more objectively, the moment makes it. Take the Mega Man 7 Dr. Wily Pixel Frames shadow box. In many ways, this is a pretty ideal moment. You have Mega Man, Dr. Light, Rush, and Dr. Wily all in the scene. There's the gauge on the lefthand side. There's definitely more texture and you can see the 3D effect. However, because so much of it is in the forefront, it doesn't "pop" as much as the other two Pixel Frames I got. The composition is great and it is a fantastic scene. But the effect isn't as remarkable.
Now with the Street Fighter II Car Scene scene, the Pixel Frames mission gets closer to ticking the all the boxes by depicting the game's bonus stage. You can really see how the company understood the assignment here. The layers are extremely evident here and cast a great shadow. (Not counting the ones actually present in the art under Guile, the car, and Chun-Li.) The UI at the top of the screen looks good and pops. The car is in the midst of being broken. Guile is using a Sonic Boom, while Chun-Li is performing Hyakuretsukyaku. Some of the broken car parts are already flying off and are on their own layer, which also works out well. The rest of the background might seem a little flat, but you can definitely see the distinction from the ground and the ocean in behind it. It's tactfully done, and immediately recognizable.
But from what I've seen, I think the Sonic the Hedgehog Loop Scene is the Pixel Frames shadow box that best shows what this collection can do. First, we're in Green Hill Zone. Everyone knows it. Sonic is just finishing running through one of the series' trademark loops. It conveys a sense of speed, since we see he's already gone through it and is in motion. Plus, it provides an opportunity to place him in one of the midground layers, with the front of the loop and "stage" in the foreground. Lurking ahead is a Buzz Bomber, one of the series' more recognizable standard enemies. Plus, the background layer is far enough behind to provide even more context. It highlights a lot of things people love about the series. We have four layers in effect. There's a pretty good distribution of content on all four layers. The shadows really are visible when displayed. I think it's just a very well-handled piece. The one thing I do wish is that there was an easel back on each Pixel Frames piece. All of them come with a sawtooth picture hanger on the back. This means you could fairly easily mount it on a wall and have it hang level. But there's no stand in place in the event you wanted it on a shelf or table. On the plus side, each one's frame is rather thick. They're about two inches wide, which means it can stand up independently if you place it somewhere. But given the height, I'd feel more secure displaying it with an actual easel in place. Though if someone would want that, it would probably be pretty easy to buy an easel back separately and set it up to work out. Honestly, I get the impression that the Pixel Frames shadow boxes tend to be handled rather well. They're substantial pieces. Care is put in to get the licensing for games people have fond memories for. The scenes picked tend to be immediately recognizable ones with familiar characters. Yes, getting one for a title someone prefers is going to probably be the most influential part of picking one out. But as for the actual display, it feels like the more detailed and active the scene, the more opportunity there is for the 3D effects and nature of the collection to stand out. The Pixel Frames Mega Man, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Street Fighter shadow boxes are now available at retailers like Amazon and IGN Store. The retail price is $29.99 each. The official website for the collection is also now open. The post Pixel Frames Mega Man, Sonic, and Street Fighter Art Show Appropriate Moments appeared first on Siliconera. |
Siliconera Sunday, June 19, 2022 1:00 PM
A movie for Mononoke will premiere some time in 2023 in Japan, with an all-new story. This is part of the 15th anniversary of the franchise. Takahiro Sakurai will reprise his role as the unnamed medicine seller, who is the main character of the show. The team will reveal more information closer to the release date. [Thanks, ryokutya2089!] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gL076eIru9k Mononoke is an episodic series about a medicine seller who wanders about. On his journeys, he meets and destroys mononoke. Mononoke are essentially Japanese spirits and demons, such as a zashiki-warashi or bakeneko. In terms of genre, Mononoke is a mix of psychological horror and mystery. As mentioned earlier, Takahiro Sakurai voices the main character. His previous roles include Suzaku from Code Geass and Cloud from Final Fantasy VII. Kenji Nakamura (Tsuritama) directed the show. The Mononoke movie will debut in theaters in Japan sometime in 2023. The post Mononoke Movie Premiere Set for 2023 appeared first on Siliconera. |
Siliconera Sunday, June 19, 2022 11:00 AM
Toho Animation released a new trailer for the upcoming season 6 of My Hero Academia. The show will start up again from the Fall 2022 anime season. The trailer shows off the Heroes and the Villains facing off in an all-out war. Characters like Endeavor, Hawks, Dabi, and Toga also make appearances. The majority of the trailer focuses on the ongoing conflict between the Heroes and the Villains, who formed the Paranormal Liberation Front. This is a giant organization that combines the League of Villains with the Meta Liberation Army. The battle in Season 6 of My Hero Academia will pick up from where season 5 left off. This means that it will start up from the Paranormal Liberation War arc. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDoQMIE2l3w The original premise of My Hero Academia revolves around Izuku Midoriya, who is Quirk-less in a world where everyone has a Quirk. A Quirk is essentially a superpower, such as invisibility or pyrokinesis. One day, he receives the Quirk of All Might, who is the greatest Hero, and he gains the right to attend U.A., which is a school for fledgling heroes. As the series progresses, the story moves away from the high school setting and focuses on more societal threats. My Hero Academia season 6 will start airing in Fall 2022. My Hero Academia is available for streaming through services such as Crunchyroll. The post New My Hero Academia Season 6 Trailer Shows All-Out War appeared first on Siliconera. |
Siliconera Sunday, June 19, 2022 9:00 AM
The Hololive Ichiban Kuji is now available in convenience stores and hobby shops around Japan. It will cost 700 JPY ($5.20) to try for an item. The Double Chance Campaign will end some time in September 2022. It will also become available online from mid-July 2022. [Thanks, Famitsu!] Normally, Ichiban Kuji prizes follow an alphabetical order. The "top-tier prize" is the A Prize and the further down the alphabet one goes, the smaller the prizes are. For example, the A Prize of the Kingdom Hearts anniversary Ichiban Kuji is a statue of Sora whereas the H Prize is a Keyblade charm. However, the Hololive Ichiban Kuji does not separate the prizes into such tiers. Instead, the division is based on either the Hololive member or the type of goods. The line-up of prizes is:
[gallery columns="8" ids="930556,930555,930554,930553,930552,930551,930550,930549" link="file"] The Hololive girls' prizes are cloth tapestries of them. Bandai Spirits announced this collection and what the prizes will be in February 2022. However, we did not know what the merchandise would look like. During this time, it also revealed the various artists who will work on the collection. For example, illustrator magako drew Noel's tapestry while Piromizu drew Marine's. The Hololive Ichiban Kuji is available in Japan and will be available online from July 2022. The post Hololive Ichiban Kuji Now Available in Japan appeared first on Siliconera. |
GameDom Sunday, June 19, 2022 11:44 AM Omori, the game that took almost a decade to release and had to warn us about its depiction of depression and anxiety, is now out for even more people to play. Look at the picture above. It looks so heartwarming. Everyone is so colorful except for Omori himself who looks like me being forced to... The post Omori Is Now Out on Consoles, So Check on Your Friends appeared first on GameDom. |