PCGamesN Sunday, April 2, 2023 7:22 AM  By now we all know that Skyrim mods can do anything. Dedicated creators from all over the world are still rewriting and recontextualising Bethesda's RPG game while the studio works towards the Starfield release date, and a brand new mod from a prolific creator essentially gives Skyrim the Wild Wasteland trait from Fallout New Vegas - using skooma. Continue reading Skyrim now has Fallout's weirdest trait – thanks to this skooma mod MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Skyrim mods, Play Skyrim, Games like Skyrim |
PCGamesN Sunday, April 2, 2023 6:12 AM  Upcoming Souls-like game reboot Lords of the Fallen is taking some risks with the formula cemented by FromSoftware and its lineage of Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Sekiro, and Elden Ring. New ideas and hopeful improvements are coming from developer Hexworks, who showed us at PCGamesN some behind-the-scenes footage of the RPG game at GDC 2023 in San Francisco, and explained how the team wants to redefine how magic gets used in the genre, with Star Wars being the team's unlikely example. MORE FROM PCGAMESN: The best Soulslike games on PC, The best RPG games, The best fantasy games for PC |
Rock Paper Shotgun Latest Articles Feed Sunday, April 2, 2023 6:00 AM  Sundays are for lying face-down on the sofa with a soothing 10-hour rainscape YouTube video playing in the background trying to recover from a packed games event in Boston. Hello! I am the second imposter covering for our dear Ed, who is currently away on holiday in Japan (and I'm definitely not jealous at all). Let's get into some good words, shall we? Wired's Megan Farokhmanesh interviewed Richard Hofmeier, the developer of Cart Life - a sobering game about three street vendors trying to make ends meet. Hofmeier tells the story of his decision to remove the game from Steam ten years ago and his reasons for bringing it back. His time away from game spaces made him appreciate the spectrum of expertise his colleagues had in things he'd never done. It was humbling. "So many people have talent and passion that gets entirely overlooked," he says. He loved working in games, but back when he released Cart Life he feared a career in the field could get too insular. "The most interesting art, to me, comes from outsiders," he says. "I was a little bit scared of becoming an insider myself." |
Siliconera Sunday, April 2, 2023 9:00 AM
Sports anime tend to have a very simple, but highly successful success formula that more or less guarantees you'll enjoy it if that's your cup of tea. I mean, a story about a group of people who learn to work together as teammates and eventually friends? Maybe they win a tournament or two along the way? It's fantastic to watch underdog teams get through challenges and rivals in order to bring home the victory. Sign me up! But Blue Lock looks that formula in the eye and spits on it. And in a way, it works. Blue Lock is the show where all of the characters compete to be the very worst sports anime boy. The story centers on Yoichi Isagi, who is one of 300 strikers chosen for the Blue Lock program. The JFU devised the program to find and train new soccer players who will take Japan's soccer to the next level. However, instead of teaching them how to be teammates and work together, the program actively pits the players against each other. This is because the show's central philosophy is that the most egotistical plays are what's ultimately the most important thing to break Japan out of its team-oriented funk. In a way, it's the antithesis of what a sports anime is. What they want is the worst boy to ever exist in sports anime.
The animation and music for the show are fantastic, and the pacing makes it a really easy show to binge. Matches generally never overstay their welcome, and the characters are not that complicated. The soccer action is pretty intense. It's Haikyuu levels of exciting, though with a lot less emotional attachment. This is because the focus of the show is on Isagi himself, with only a handful of other characters receiving any development. Chigiri, Bachira, and Nagi are really fun to watch because of their play styles. Outside of their plays, everyone is really fun, even though they're objectively awful people. Like, Nagi is ridiculously terrible once you see more of him. But he's so oblivious about it that it rounds back to funny (#JusticeForReo2023 for real though). [gallery ids="957623,957622,957621" link="file"] My biggest issue with Blue Lock ultimately lies with its protagonist Isagi. He's really funny as a character. It's hilarious watching him essentially call someone a slur for an hour and then, as soon as the match is over, he's just a nice guy. Him being an unwitting homewrecker is also a riot. The problem is when he's actually on the field. The narrative establishes that Isagi is not a very good player, but he's really observant. He's above average outside of the Blue Lock facility, but within it, he's lesser in almost every way compared to all of the major characters. So he makes up for that with predicting where the ball will go or what players will do, and then positioning himself on the field so that he can get the ball. That's really neat, and he'd make a great strategist. But Isagi refuses to be that. It was really cool to watch Isagi figure out his weapon and showing up objectively better players with it. His early development legitimately made me excited to see Isagi grow as a player. The problem is that Isagi never learns. Every match, he learns that his problem is overthinking and he should just take the shot. So he does. And then the next match starts, and he learns the same thing again. It's underwhelming and repetitive. His "devouring" shtick of taking inspiration from other players only lasts for that one single match, which is another reason why his development and power-ups feel undeserved. I also found it unbelievable how Isagi is supposed to physically be one of the worst players on his team. But just because he can see better, he can pull out the ninja moves? His best plays involve him acting as a midfielder, and yet he constantly attempts to grab the striker spot from better players. Is this how Sharpay felt in High School Musical?
I felt like Isagi would've been more interesting as a player if he was more a strategist like Niko was. He's exactly in the same boat as Niko where his weapons are his observational skills and brains, and they're not as physically able as the better players. Later on, we see Reo, Rin, and Kaiser, who are all essentially "Isagi but better." But they all have their own niches and positions in the field, whereas Isagi's skill set makes him a better midfielder despite his insistence on stealing the ball from his own teammates because he wants to be a striker. It's interesting how the premise of Blue Lock encourages the players to "devour" each other to reach new heights, both as individual players and as a team. But Isagi as a player makes the concept frustrating to watch. His canon incompetence contrasts with his lofty goals and foul attitude, but the narrative awards him for it every single time. Obviously, I still really like Blue Lock. I mean, I recommended it from the Winter 2023 line-up. It's a really fun show to watch for sports action, but I wouldn't go into it with the expectation that it's a sports anime. Isagi also seems popular in the fandom. So maybe I'm just too critical of him. Perhaps the desire to score your own goal even if you're not the best player to do so is one that is a normal soccer player instinct. I wouldn't know because I'm not a sports girl. But what I do know is that Blue Lock is genuinely fun to watch if you want to turn your brain off. Blue Lock is available for streaming on services like Netflix and Crunchyroll. The manga is ongoing and Kodansha has licensed it for North America. The post Blue Lock Searches for Worst Sports Anime Boy appeared first on Siliconera. |
Tabletop Gaming News – TGN Sunday, April 2, 2023 10:00 AM Dungeon Saga Origins: A Thrilling Prequel to the Popular Dungeon Saga Game Series on Kickstarter Now Mantic Games has once again captured the hearts of tabletop gamers with their new dungeon crawler game, Dungeon Saga Origins. The game, which is currently on Kickstarter, has already reached an incredible £187,000 from a £50,000 goal with 13 days left to go from 1,750 backers. The campaign, which will end on April 15, promises … |
Tabletop Gaming News – TGN Sunday, April 2, 2023 7:35 AM Games Workshop has announced this week's pre-orders, which include new Boarding Patrols, Pilgrims, and Gleaming Gondor™ Buildings. For Warhammer 40,000, players can look forward to three new Boarding Patrols. The Adepta Sororitas pack includes 10 Battle Sisters, 10 Sisters Repentia, five Celestian Sacresants, and a Canoness armed with bolters, chainswords, and hallowed maces. The Adeptus … |