Kotaku Tuesday, July 16, 2024 11:30 AM  Rock duo Tenacious D (Jack Black and Kyle Gass) are in crisis mode following backlash to a joke about the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally over the weekend. "After much reflection, I no longer feel it is appropriate to continue the Tenacious D tour, and all future creative… |
Kotaku Tuesday, July 16, 2024 11:25 AM  Microsoft just announced that it's bringing its worsening subscription service Game Pass, which gives access to a revolving catalog of first-and-third party titles for a monthly fee, to Amazon's Fire Sticks in a continued bid to expand outside of the Xbox ecosystem. Now, thanks to a wild deal on a Fire Stick bundle,… |
Kotaku Tuesday, July 16, 2024 10:54 AM  As House of The Dragon approaches its mid-season, the show reminds viewers that this Targaryen war originated from the belief that a woman should not rule the Seven Kingdoms. The memory of Rhaena, The Fallen Queen That Never Was, refreshes both Team Green and Black to that fact. |
Kotaku Tuesday, July 16, 2024 10:38 AM  Baldur's Gate 3's seventh big patch contains some of the most significant additions to the game since its release, and has been in development for a few months now. It's finally coming to a PC or console near you in September, so developer Larian Studios has put together an update to whet your appetite that breaks… |
Kotaku Tuesday, July 16, 2024 10:25 AM  How much would you pay to game with your favorite online personality? For Imane "Pokimane" Anys, the answer for multiple people out there is "over $30,000." Fans, AKA internet strangers, are currently in a low-key bidding war for an exclusive one-on-one gaming session with the Twitch icon as she auctions off her time… |
Kotaku Tuesday, July 16, 2024 9:50 AM  While always awful for developers, leaks of unreleased games aren't rare, but usually occur in the days before release. For a big-name, highly anticipated, fully playable game to hit piracy sites two months before it's due out, however, is astoundingly unusual. That's what's happened to Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2… |
PCGamesN Tuesday, July 16, 2024 11:47 AM  July 16, 2024: We've added a new Monopoly Go dice link for free dice rolls. How can I get Monopoly Go free dice links? The household favorite board game has been reimagined as a free-to-play app on smartphones, allowing everyone to experience the thrills of Monopoly on practically any device. Everything that makes the board game special is here in Monopoly Go, so you'll be collecting properties and building hotels as you go around the board, and there are a variety of multiplayer minigames to get through along the way. You're going to need to get your hands on Monopoly dice rolls, but they are difficult to come by no matter how far you are into the board game. There are ways to earn additional dice rolls, including logging into the game every day to collect daily bonuses, progressing further in the game, and inviting friends to try Monopoly Go. While you can also spend real money to unlock more dice rolls, you may want to give our list of Monopoly Go dice links a try instead, especially if you're waiting for the next Monopoly Go Golden Blitz event. Take a look at all the currently active Monopoly Go free dice links for today. Continue reading Free Monopoly Go dice links July 2024 MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best board games, Monopoly Go events, Monopoly Go dice |
PCGamesN Tuesday, July 16, 2024 11:43 AM  If you're a survivor, Dead By Daylight can be scary enough as it is: you creep around the corridors of Lerys Institute just to be surprised by a stalking Myers. You're peacefully trying to complete a generator when a Blight rushes across the map to seal your doom. Now imagine stepping into one of The Trapper's bear traps as you're being chased by The Nurse, or being body blocked by an invisible Wraith as you're running from The Huntress and her hatchets. That's DBD's 2V8 mode, and I spoke to Behaviour about how it all works. Continue reading Chaotic new DBD 2V8 mode is exactly what the game needs right now MORE FROM PCGAMESN: DBD killer tier list, Best horror games, DBD codes |
PCGamesN Tuesday, July 16, 2024 11:31 AM  If you've been holding out for a bargain SSD deal before taking the plunge with your next upgrade, then now's the time to dive head-first into the Amazon Prime Day sales and bag yourself a new SSD. Several of our favorite drives have been awarded hefty discounts, with 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSDs going for just $59.99, and super-fast 2TB PCIe 5.0 drives available for under $240. You'll find a lot of these drives in our guide to the best SSD for gaming, and they come from big names in the business, including Samsung and WD, as well as Crucial. There are many SSDs discounted right now, though, and not all are genuine bargains. That's where I can help, as I've been testing SSDs since the early days of IDE drives, right up to the PCIe 5.0 drives of today. Here is my expert advice on which SSD to buy on Amazon Prime Day. Continue reading Don't miss these 5 amazing gaming SSD deals on Prime Day MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Crucial MX500 review, Best SSDs for gaming |
PCGamesN Tuesday, July 16, 2024 11:33 AM  July 16, 2024: We checked for new The First Descendant codes. What are the new The First Descendant codes? The looter shooter is officially here, and though it's free to play, you'll still need to work hard for the best gear if you hope to survive the alien invasion. Nexon's co-op RPG has plenty of The First Descendant characters, but you're going to need to jump through a lot of hoops to get them. That combined with getting the best weapons and gear, there's a lot to grind in The First Descendant, and though there are ways to get more The First Descendant Caliber, fortunately, it looks like codes are on the way. Continue reading The First Descendant codes July 2024 MORE FROM PCGAMESN: The First Descendant system requirements, The First Descendant characters, The First Descendant crossplay |
PCGamesN Tuesday, July 16, 2024 11:25 AM  It started as an internet rumor, but we checked, we double checked, and we can now confirm it directly - Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, the upcoming RPG sequel, will be given away completely free to select backers of the original game. The Warhorse classic started life as a Kickstarter project all the way back in 2014. Now, with KCD 2 on the horizon, players who pledged above a certain threshold during those early days will get the game absolutely, completely free by way of a thank you from the developer, which confirmed the news to PCGamesN directly. MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best RPG games, Best action-adventure games, Best medieval games |
PCGamesN Tuesday, July 16, 2024 11:34 AM  What are the best Roblox games? Games aren't just better than ever for kids; the means of creating them are, too. The best example of that is Roblox: a massively multiplayer online game creation platform, and since it's so easy to make something fun, there are millions of Roblox games to enjoy. User-generated creations allow you to weather the existential threat of a natural disaster, try your hand as a pizza maker, and take a break from it all with a spot of peaceful scuba diving. From sims and RPGs to tower defense and adventure titles, we've highlighted the best Roblox games to enjoy with over 100 million other pals in online games. Think of it like Minecraft and LittleBigPlanet smooshed together and forged into an entire platform to create one of the best free PC games available. Below, you can find the best Roblox games and more about this exciting platform. If you're looking for some Roblox freebies, you can check these guides for working, new Skibiverse codes, and Fruit Battlegrounds codes to gain an advantage in your games. Continue reading The best Roblox games in 2024 MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best Roblox games, Roblox promo codes, Roblox music codes |
PCGamesN Tuesday, July 16, 2024 11:22 AM  Who are the best Overwatch 2 heroes? With 40 heroes to pick from, starting in Blizzard's hero shooter can be pretty daunting, and it's not always easy to tell how strong your chosen character is when you're constantly coming up against different counters and team comps. Of course, just because we say a hero is a must-pick doesn't mean you can't do a better job with your preferred main character, but most players should be able to look at this Overwatch 2 tier list for a quick snapshot of who to play and why. Join us as we rank every hero in the free PC game, from the titanic tanks to squishy supports. Continue reading Overwatch 2 tier list July 2024 MORE FROM PCGAMESN: All Overwatch 2 characters, Best Overwatch 2 settings, Overwatch 2 tier list |
PCGamesN Tuesday, July 16, 2024 11:11 AM  Even though it's been just a couple of weeks since Once Human took Steam by storm, there have been plenty of reports from players that cheaters are plaguing the free-to-play hit. Well, the survival game just issued its first wave of bans for those it has caught being up to no good, and it isn't holding back, with over 400 players issued bans that last for almost ten years. Continue reading 430 Once Human players just got hit with 10-year bans for cheating MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best sandbox games, Best open-world games, Best survival games |
PCGamesN Tuesday, July 16, 2024 11:57 AM  When is the The Casting of Frank Stone release date? A new horror game based in the world of Dead by Daylight is in the works by Supermassive Games. If the developer's previous cinematic game experiences like The Quarry and the Dark Pictures anthology are anything to go by, we can't think of anyone better to bring the DBD universe to a new genre. We've had a dating sim, Hooked on You, the mobile iteration of DBD, which seems to getting more features than the main game at this point, and another multiplayer game is in the works. If there's one thing the Dead by Daylight universe is sorely missing though, it's a single-player horror game. Luckily, that's where The Casting of Frank Stone comes in, and it looks set to be an incredible, immersive, and intense horror experience for existing fans of DBD and, thanks to its all-new characters and setting, those unfamiliar with the asymmetrical game, too. Here's everything we know so far about Supermassive's "cinematic experience" and the window for a The Casting of Frank Stone release date. Continue reading The Casting of Frank Stone release date, trailers, and story MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best horror games, The Casting of Frank Stone release date, Best adventure games |
PCGamesN Tuesday, July 16, 2024 11:08 AM  Supermassive Games and Dead by Daylight is a match made in heaven. On the one hand, we have the best interactive horror games you can play today, and on the other is an asymmetrical multiplayer game that keeps getting better with age. The Casting of Frank Stone promises to finally bring the two together, and we have a release date at long last. Continue reading DBD spinoff The Casting of Frank Stone finally has a launch date MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best horror games, The Casting of Frank Stone release date, Best adventure games |
PCGamesN Tuesday, July 16, 2024 10:51 AM  We're still a couple of weeks away from the AMD Zen 5 launch but that hasn't stopped AMD showing off the full extent of its new CPUs' capabilities, at least when it comes to overclocking. In a new AMD Ryzen 9 9950X overclocking video by Gamers Nexus, AMD's overclocking aficionados take the new flagship Zen 5 chip to a ludicrous speed of 6.6GHz, with a little help from a Thermos flask. The 9950X is fully expected to be among the best gaming CPUs you can buy when it launches, making the Zen 5 release date a highly anticipated one. However, while we still have to wait until July 31 before we can actually buy this processor, AMD has given us a sneak peek at the chip's capabilities when it's pushed to extremes. MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Ryzen 7 7800X3D review, Best gaming CPU, Radeon RX 7800 XT review |
PCGamesN Tuesday, July 16, 2024 10:44 AM  Want to know what Genshin Impact outfits are available? The outfits system was introduced in the Genshin Impact 1.6 update, following months of pleading from the community. These outfits give you the chance to dress your favourite characters in brand-new clothes. As Genshin Impact characters are locked behind gacha mechanics in the free PC game, players were initially worried that skins may be sold using the same system. However, there are actually two methods to unlock skins: purchase the skin for 1,680 Genesis Crystals, or complete specific Genshin Impact events to unlock the skin for free. If you're unlucky enough to miss the event, free skins will make their way to the Character Outfit Shop in the future. Here's a list of every outfit available in Genshin Impact right now and how to get them all for yourself. Continue reading Genshin Impact outfits - available skins and costumes MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Genshin Impact codes, Genshin Impact character tier list, Genshin Impact leveling guide |
PCGamesN Tuesday, July 16, 2024 10:31 AM  Every massive videogame release has to deal with cheaters, and The First Descendant is no exception. The bigger they are, the harder it is to stop the growing number of people bypassing systems and avoiding playing as intended. Nexon's newest looter shooter is finding that out the hard way, so to deal with the growing number of AFK players and tricksters, the developer is promising new and swift anti-cheat measures. MORE FROM PCGAMESN: The First Descendant system requirements, The First Descendant characters, The First Descendant crossplay |
PCGamesN Tuesday, July 16, 2024 10:24 AM  What are the best Elden Ring weapons? Weapons form the basis of any build, and we've compiled a list of our top picks for all main attributes – so no matter your proficiency, there's a powerful weapon just waiting for you out there in the Lands Between. From lightning-quick daggers to colossal greatswords, we've got a weapon for every type of Elden Ring build and playstyle in FromSoftware's definitive soulslike game. We've also kept up to date with all the latest balance patches alongside the new DLC weapons, so you can head into Shadow of the Erdtree with the best weapons to defeat the Elden Ring bosses that await. Continue reading Best Elden Ring weapons and their locations MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Elden Ring builds, Elden Ring bosses, Elden Ring weapons |
PCGamesN Tuesday, July 16, 2024 10:16 AM  Cats are adorable, cute, and lovely, but if they could, they would take over the world and force everyone to work in round-the-clock dairy farms. Until now, it hasn't happened, but a new strategy and city-building game from Manor Lords publisher Hooded Horse brings to life this extremely cuddly nightmare. As the overseer of an indentured colony of mice, your job is to farm, build, and harvest in service to your malevolent cat overlords. They must be fed. They must be provided the finest silk scratching posts. But maybe, just maybe, you don't have to put up with this forever. A rival to Cities Skylines 2, Satisfactory, and RimWorld, this is Whiskerwood. MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best strategy games, Best city-building games, Best 4X games |
PCGamesN Tuesday, July 16, 2024 10:52 AM  Amazon Prime Day is here, and we're bringing you all the best PC gaming and hardware deals. For 2024, Amazon Prime Day runs from today through Wednesday, July 17. With hundreds of discounts live at the retailer, we've been sharing the most exciting savings below. Prime Day is a great opportunity for gamers looking to get their hands on the best SSD for gaming at a reduced rate or upgrade their setup and bag one of the best gaming monitors. You'll also find smaller budget-friendly peripherals like keyboards and mice reduced for the two-day window. To take advantage of Prime Day deals you'll need to be an Amazon Prime member, and we've got details on how to sign up below. If you already have an Amazon Prime subscription, this guide will tell you everything you need to know. But for now, hop on down to the gaming deals. ⬇️ Continue reading Shop the top Prime Day PC gaming deals for 2024 MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best graphics card, Best gaming PC, Best SSD for gaming |
PCGamesN Tuesday, July 16, 2024 9:54 AM  AOC is no stranger to blazing-fast gaming monitors, but its latest addition cranks the speeds up a notch. The AOC Agon Pro AG246FK clocks in at a 540Hz refresh rate, bringing the sort of speed that's beyond even the latest OLED gaming monitors. We first got wind of this AOC 540Hz gaming monitor back in April, but it's only now that we're on the verge of the new display being available. Crucially, while we've seen 540Hz refresh rate displays from Asus and BenQ before, they demand a very high price, but AOC's new model is set to be much more affordable, making it a true best gaming monitor contender. Continue reading AOC's new 540Hz gaming monitor is $200 cheaper than the rest MORE FROM PCGAMESN: AOC AGON Pro AG274QXM review, AOC AGON AG275QXL review, Best gaming monitor |
PCGamesN Tuesday, July 16, 2024 9:47 AM  What are the Elden Ring bosses in order? The most defining moments in any of the Souls-like games are the tough boss fights. They can be tricky for several reasons: some are hard to hit consistently, and others can squash you with just one attack. Despite having hundreds of monsters, you only need to beat 12 Elden Ring bosses in this order to finish the game. In addition to a list of mandatory boss encounters, our list of the Elden Ring bosses in order includes where you can find them, and what rewards they drop. We've also collated the top five Elden Ring bosses in order of difficulty, as well as some handy tips on how to beat them. Generally speaking, dungeon bosses are not as hard to kill as the major bosses. However, there are exceptions, so equipping the best Elden Ring summons and upgrading the Flask of Wondrous Physick with Elden Ring crystal tears can make all the difference in one of the best PC games ever. Continue reading All Elden Ring bosses in order MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Elden Ring builds, Elden Ring bosses, Elden Ring weapons |
PCGamesN Tuesday, July 16, 2024 9:28 AM  How does the CS2 ranks and rating system work? Competitive Counter-Strike is drastically changing in CS2 to create a more streamlined experience depending on how you prefer to play the game. There are now two forms of ranked play in CS2: Competitive and Premier. Unlike CSGO, your rank is split depending on the mode you're playing in Counter-Strike 2. Don't worry if you're a Global Elite-level player; as long as you continue to play well on the CS2 maps you should end up exactly where you deserve to be in the FPS game. Valve has removed the option to pick short or long games, instead, they've settled on MM24 to get directly to the action. Here's what you need to know about the rank and ratings system in CS2. Continue reading CS2 ranks and rating system explained MORE FROM PCGAMESN: CS2 crosshair, CS2 review, CS2 skins |
PCGamesN Tuesday, July 16, 2024 10:56 AM  By the time Baldur's Gate 3 patch 7 arrives in September, the gap between it and the RPG's previous big update will have stretched well beyond six months. There's a good reason for that though - patch 7 is a beast. We already knew that new evil endings and official mod support would be arriving, but now Larian has revealed some early patch notes for this colossal BG3 update, which include a massive bug fixing spree that affects all seven of the game's origin characters, improvements to split-screen, and much more. Continue reading Baldur's Gate 3 patch 7 is huge, but it's not the RPG's final update MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Baldur's Gate 3 builds, BG3 mods, Baldur's Gate 3 classes |
PCGamesN Tuesday, July 16, 2024 9:04 AM  Despite a rough launch and some ongoing problems, Battlefield 2042 has at least gotten better in the last three years. But it doesn't represent the EA DICE shooter series at its best. You want historical settings, enormous scale, destructible terrain, and a perfectly balanced mix of realism and pace. Battlefield 1 came pretty close. Now, an upcoming FPS also set during The Great War feels like the return to that high point combined with some smart, original ideas. Due for an early-access release later in 2024, if you aren't paying attention to Over the Top WW1 already, the new trailer, shared with PCGamesN exclusively, will definitely turn your head. MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best FPS games, Best multiplayer games, Best war games |
PCGamesN Tuesday, July 16, 2024 11:33 AM  What are the new Black Desert Online codes? Since its graphical overhaul, BDO has seen a new lease of life. Not only does it have one of the best character creators for an MMO, its fantasy world is a thrill to explore, and it's full of complex mechanics for combat, trading, and diplomacy. This can be intimidating for new players, but there's a way to get a head start. If you want helpful rewards for Black Desert Online, one of the longest-running MMO games, then you've come to the right place. These BDO codes give rewards such as Memory Fragments, Cron Stones, Enhancement Kits, and more. All of these items are handy for your next session, so we've also detailed ways you can redeem them without being logged into the game. Continue reading BDO codes July 2024 MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Black Desert Online guide |
PCGamesN Tuesday, July 16, 2024 9:07 AM  Which League of Legends skins are currently on sale in the store? LoL is a free-to-play game in the truest sense - you can enjoy everything the MOBA offers for absolutely nothing. Now if you were to ask a seasoned League player if that were true, they'd probably have to stifle a few tears as they check how much their bank account has suffered buying skins since they started battling on the Rift. Riot rotates a series of skins in the store, with the savviest of us holding out until the cosmetic they want ends up in the discount section store or even the League of Legends Mythic shop. The shiny new cosmetics are only available briefly, so act fast if you want to snag the new hotness. Here is every League of Legends skin on sale right now if you want to know what's in the store without booting up the client. Continue reading Which League of Legends skins are currently on sale? MORE FROM PCGAMESN: League of Legends ranks explained, League of Legends Mythic shop rotation, League of Legends tier list |
PCGamesN Tuesday, July 16, 2024 9:00 AM  A shiny new set of Valorant patch notes have just dropped, and while there isn't much for PC players to write home about when it comes to balance changes, one of the tactical shooter's casual modes is getting temporarily removed. Due to an unspecified bug, Escalation will be disabled until at least two patches time. Continue reading Valorant is disabling an entire game mode due to a mysterious bug MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Valorant Night Market dates, Valorant ranks, Valorant crosshair codes |
PCGamesN Tuesday, July 16, 2024 8:35 AM  What's on sale in the League of Legends Mythic shop? New skins for LoL are released all the time, with a new event arriving on the Rift every few weeks, but what happens if you missed the boat with that awesome KD/A Evelynn skin, or if you've seen a Hextech skin in a game of Summoner's Rift and want to bag it for yourself? The Mythic shop is a special storefront in the free PC game that stocks rare skins, wards, chromas, and essence. These cosmetic items aren't available for real-world money, either, as they can only be purchased with Mythic Essence, so no more worrying about how much you've spent in League of Legends. The stock held in this store is rotated regularly, with some skins becoming unavailable for months, so it's best to keep up to date on what's on sale in the League of Legends Mythic store. Continue reading League of Legends Mythic shop July - what's on sale? MORE FROM PCGAMESN: League of Legends ranks explained, League of Legends Mythic shop rotation, League of Legends tier list |
Rock Paper Shotgun Latest Articles Feed Tuesday, July 16, 2024 11:51 AM  The word "kiss" occurs 10 times in the latest blog post for the seventh major Baldur's Gate 3 patch, while the word "bug" occurs 14 times. I think this ratio captures how BG3 updates at large walk the line between dealing with stuff like progression blockers, and sating the inexhaustible horniness of the fanbase. There's more to patch 7 than glitch-hunting and snogs, however. Due in September, it introduces dynamic splitscreen functionality, expansions for Honour mode, modding tools, new endings for evil playthroughs, and a brace of tweaks for Origin characters. |
Rock Paper Shotgun Latest Articles Feed Tuesday, July 16, 2024 11:50 AM  Graphics cards are always worth looking out for on sale events like Prime Day, largely because they're so hideously expensive otherwise. Take Nvidia's GeForce RTX 4060, whose positioning in the RTX 40 series hierarchy would suggest an affordable mid-range GPU, yet routinely pushes £300. Here, though, you can nab the Gigabyte GeForce RTX 4060 Windforce OC edition at a 15% discount, bringing it down to a far more agreeable £238. Nice. |
Rock Paper Shotgun Latest Articles Feed Tuesday, July 16, 2024 11:01 AM  Recent SSD prices have made for miserable reading and even worse shopping, with the costs of last year's manufacturing woes passed onto innocent punters. At least Prime Day 2024 is, if only temporarily, righting those wrongs – such as with the massive 2TB WD Blue SN580 going for a mere £96. Two whole terabytes of quality NVMe for less than a hundred quid? Nature is healing. |
Rock Paper Shotgun Latest Articles Feed Tuesday, July 16, 2024 9:57 AM  Apologies for the two handheld-minded deals posts in a row, readers, but I've just noticed that the Prime Day 2024 has made the Lenovo Legion Go – a bulky but commendably unique handheld Windows PC – cheaper than it's ever been in the UK. Provided you've got an Amazon Prime account, or at least the free Prime trial, the 512GB model can be yours for £569, a saving of £131. Not bad, for a device with a higher-rez display and more graphical horsepower than the Steam Deck or Steam Deck OLED. |
Rock Paper Shotgun Latest Articles Feed Tuesday, July 16, 2024 9:21 AM  Amazon Prime Day is once again bearing the PC hardware fruits, with big discounts on one of the absolute best microSD cards for the Steam Deck (and other handhelds). Specifically, it's the SanDisk Ultra, and not the diddly 64GB model in the picture above but the honking great 1.5TB version. It's dropped below the £100 / $100 mark for the first time and, while Amazon has the lowest overall prices, it's on sale elsewhere, allowing you to dodge the usual Prime subscription requirement. |
Rock Paper Shotgun Latest Articles Feed Tuesday, July 16, 2024 9:00 AM  My favourite ever mode of travel in games is flying, so I was already poised (in mid-air) to really enjoy swooping around the world of Flock. It's a gentle exploration game from the people who brought you Wimot's Warehouse and I Am Dead (including Pip Warr, RPS in peace) where you never touch the ground, instead gliding around the strange forests and rippling meadows atop a giant bird with a beautiful trailing tail. Big Journey vibes, but more whimsical and colourful. |
Rock Paper Shotgun Latest Articles Feed Tuesday, July 16, 2024 7:38 AM  My love of the chilly, lightless heavens is equalled only by my love of free things, and right now, Star Citizen ticks both boxes. Cloud Imperium are offering free access to the long-in-the-making space game until July 19th, as part of the latest Foundation Festival. During that fleeting window of opportunity, you can try out 10 ships and enjoy such astral pastimes as stripping wrecks, busting asteroids, or getting blown up by other pilots. If you're an existing citizen of the stars, there are also festival-themed discounts of various kinds. |
Rock Paper Shotgun Latest Articles Feed Tuesday, July 16, 2024 6:39 AM  The ouroboros is a snake eating its own tail: an infinite thing, a never ending cycle. While I do think this is a rather metal logo, there's an argument to be made that it's not current or trendy enough. With this in mind, I think the words "Call Of Duty" should represent the endless, unstoppable nature of existence. And with Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 revealing its multiplayer open beta and early access dates, we must further consume and be consumed by the circular march of COD. Let's dolphin dive in, shall we. |
Rock Paper Shotgun Latest Articles Feed Tuesday, July 16, 2024 6:08 AM  I know as much about programming video game monsters as I do the exact flavour and consistency of the sands on Mars, but I've always thought the chief advantage of the Slime monster archetype is its economy. A slime, in most games, is a squashy smiley face. Why, I could grow myself one of those right this very instant, by doodling a circle in MS Paint and squinting very hard. Slimes do take more complex forms - chrome slimes, fire slimes, slimes with angry eyebrows, etc - but come now, it's not on the same level as rebooting Lara Croft's hair to billow in the blowback from grenades. The simplicity of slime creation may soon become a distant memory, however, for Epic Games tech artist and current Duck Shake Games Asher Zhu is hell-bent on reinventing the homely Dragon Quest sludgeball as a technical tour de force on par with his previous contributions to Unreal Engine showcase Matrix Awakens. That's the impression I garner from the below video of Zhu's latest project, anyway, whose description also tantalises with talk of "Splatoon mechanics in dungeons". |
Rock Paper Shotgun Latest Articles Feed Tuesday, July 16, 2024 4:24 AM  We do love a good diegetic interface here at the treehouse, whether that's the analogue radar twisties of HighFleet, or the myriad hefty flickables of PVKK (Planetenverteidigungskanonenkommandant. Duh.) The fifth mech jam is currently happening over at Itch.io, and the clear standout for me thus far is Armored Shell Nightjar. It's a first person pilot-em-up that puts you in the cockpit of a grasshoppery rust-bucket carrying out a critical mission on an industrial desert planet. The more the intro text stresses the importance of this mission, the more guiltily useless I feel, because I cannot get this beautifully run-down mech to do anything of note, unless you count violently hopping into walls to be notable. |
Rock Paper Shotgun Latest Articles Feed Tuesday, July 16, 2024 4:23 AM Manor Lords next update will switch over to Unreal Engine 5 and, more importantly, add fishing ponds  I'm calling it now. When, in a "few weeks" according to the developer, fishing ponds come to strategy builder Manor Lords, it will take approximately 45 minutes for some enterprising medieval fintech tinkerer to utterly bork the entire economy, and it will be glorious. What will begin as brave new world of lean protein and previously unseen Omega 3 levels will soon devolve into hordes of beleaguered oxen hauling overburdened carts full of rotting fish carcasses, as hyperinflation looms. |
Rock Paper Shotgun Latest Articles Feed Tuesday, July 16, 2024 4:22 AM  We're still a few months out from the bug-be-gone-em-up action of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2's September 9th release date, but that hasn't stopped a jolly band of heretics skirting the watchful gaze of the inquisition and pirating what appears to be a leaked version of the entire game. The 75GB torrent is apparently fully playable minus a few assets, and also includes server binaries, meaning cool pirates can play with their cool pirate mates. Sorry, sorry, I'm being told pirates aren't cool and don't have any mates. Sorry. Sorry. |
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Siliconera Tuesday, July 16, 2024 11:30 AM
Taito revealed a new line of character plushes called Doqute Petit, and characters from the Demon Slayer series will be the first ones to be adapted. The company has also opened pre-orders for the plushes on its online store.
There will be six characters featured in this lineup. They will be Tanjiro Kamado, Kyojuro Rengoku, Giyu Tomioka, Tengen Uzui, Muichiro Tokito, and Sanemi Shinazugawa. Each plush will have the same price tag of 19,800 yen (~$125). The plushes in this line will have an approximate total height of around 60 cm (~23.62 inches).
Here are the sample images for each character plush:
These new Petit plushes will be more accessible and affordable than Taito's prior products. The company had previously released the regular giant-sized Doqute plushes of Tanjiro, Nezuko, Inosuke, Zenitsu, Kyojuro, and Shinobu in July 2023. These plushes were over 1 meter (~39.37 inches) tall and priced at a whopping 66,000 yen (approximately $417 with the exchange rate as of mid-July 2024). People also only had around a week to place orders for these plushes on March 13-19, 2023.
The Demon Slayer anime series is still ongoing as it catches up with the original manga that had concluded in 2020. The fourth TV anime season that covered the Hashira Training arc had run in May-June 2024. Ufotable is working on a new trilogy of movies that will cover the subsequent Infinity Castle arc.
Taito will close the pre-order period for the made-to-order Demon Slayer Doqute Petit plushes on August 26, 2024. The company will ship the finished products in January 2025.
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Siliconera Tuesday, July 16, 2024 11:00 AM
FFXIV Director and Producer Naoki Yoshida already promised a number of job adjustments would be heading to the MMORPG, and now many of them are available and detailed in the 7.01 patch notes. The Pictomancer changes aren't available yet. However, people who hop into FFXIV will see the Astrologian, Black Mage, Dark Knight, Gladiator, Gunbreaker, Marauder, Monk, Paladin, Pugilist, Red Mage, Samurai, Viper, and Warrior changes immediately.
First, the Black Mage learns Umbral Soul sooner in FFXIV as part of the job adjustments in the 7.01 patch notes. It used to learn the action at level 76. After the change, people get it at level 35.
Likewise, the Red Mage change is fairly simple. Manafication now lasts 30 seconds. It used to last 15 seconds.
With the Dark Knight and Gunbreaker, three actions for each of them now have increased enmity. This comes up if you use Shadowstride, Stalwart Soul, or Unleash as a Dark Knight. With the Gunbreaker, that effect now applies to Demon Slaughter, Demon Slice, and Trajectory.
When it comes to the Samurai, there are some buffs when it comes to the two adjustments to the job as part of the FFXIV patch notes for 7.01. The recast times for both Tendo Kaeshi Setsugekka and Tendo Setsugekka are now shorter. You only need to wait 2.5 seconds, rather than 3.2.
While the Viper ended up seeing multiple adjustments in FFXIV, the job really just had range increased for seven actions in the 7.01 patch notes. In 7.0, the range for Death Rattle, First Generation, Second Generation, Third Generation, Fourth Generation, Twinfang Bite, and Twinblood Bite was 3 yalms. After 7.01, it is now 5 yalms for each action.
When it comes to other jobs in FFXIV, the adjustments are more extensive in 7.01. For example, here are the Gladiator and Paladin changes:
Four Marauder and Warrior actions were adjusted:
Likewise, there were four actions for the Astrologian that ended up changed as well.
As for the Monk and Pugilist, these are the jobs that ended up with the most adjustments in the new FFXIV patch. Here's the full list:
Final Fantasy XIV and Dawntrail are available for the PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC.
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Siliconera Tuesday, July 16, 2024 10:30 AM
Square Enix has opened pre-orders for the Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis Postcard Book on its Japanese e-Store. People residing in Japan will be able to get the book at 1,650 yen (~$10.40).
The B6-sized book will contain a total of 28 postcards based on the mobile game. Other than key visuals from the story episodes, the book will have home screen backgrounds featuring CG models of characters like Cloud and Zack. The latter will also include some of the characters' special costumes, such as Yuffie's Sparkling Skater and Aerith's Sunny Robe.
In addition, Square Enix will also include a serial code that rewards in-game bonuses in each copy. This code will gift a Chocobo B+ and a gacha ticket with a guaranteed five-star weapon.
Square Enix will set up a new webpage on the game's Japanese official website for players to input the code. A player can input multiple codes obtained from numerous copies to obtain more duplicates of the above items. The gift codes will be valid until September 8, 2026, provided the mobile game is still ongoing by that date.
Square Enix will release the Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis Postcard Book in Japan on September 9, 2024.
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Siliconera Tuesday, July 16, 2024 10:01 AM
Indulging in hobbies should not be viewed as a pastime, but as a source of deep personal fulfillment and joy. Cooking, in particular, can be a cathartic experience The colors and tantalizing flavors of a well-prepared dish create an unparalleled experience of warmth and satisfaction. Magical Delicacy taps into this love for confectionary-making and merges it with Metroidvania-inspired gameplay. These two interweaving themes create a charming and cozy gameplay experience, but fail to carve out a unique identity and hinders it from reaching the dazzling heights of the genre.
You assume the role of an aspiring young witch named Flora in Magical Delicacy. She has a passion for cooking and embarks on a journey to the harbor town of Grat to prove herself as a witch. Upon her arrival, she meets a frog called Hyge, who is the town's secretary, and he takes her to a charming, rustic kitchen. Flora immediately begins elevating the kitchen and exploring the town, but of course secrets are lurking within the shadows of Grat that Flora will soon discover. The story itself is pleasant enough, but it never left me invested in the characters or their motivations. This is a shame, as the main character practicing witchcraft should have been a unique plot point to exploit, but it failed to draw me in.
Magical Delicacy's central gameplay revolves around you traversing the land, meeting the townfolk, fulfilling their orders in the kitchen, and then delivering the goodies back to them. This starts out reasonably straightforward, as the orders will only require a few simple steps to prepare. For example, buying tailored ingredients from a trader, putting them in a cooking pot, and picking up the meal before it burns and becomes a Kitchen Nightmares reject. But later down the line, the process will become more elaborate, requiring you to scavange the environments for obscure resources, purchase more fancy cooking wares, and even craft ingredients beforehand in a separate cooking process. A good example of this is making bread from scratch before you can make a vegetable sandwich.
How to fulfill these recipes can sometimes be a bit of a head-scratching process, as Magical Delicacy will not give you an exact recipe, but rather a list of criteria that need to be hit. Not everything will always go together, so if certain ingredients do not complement each other or are not cooked correctly, it will result in a failed meal. You will lose the ingredients in that dish. The more you know about cooking, the better starting position you will be in. It embraces the mantra that you can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs. I quite liked that it didn't necessarily give you step-by-step instructions on how to cook some of these meals, as it created a strangely therapeutic trial-and-error loop. It felt satisfying when I finally figured out what the recipe wanted from me.
My favorite part of the cooking process was utilizing the kitchen shopfront window to sell fully cooked meals to the hungry public. It's like running a small business, and it's fun to experiment with different foods and recipes and see how well they will sell. It is also the best way to earn money in the game. I would often find myself being distracted from the ongoing quests and instead try to accumulate money to invest back into my kitchen. You know what they say: when a window of opportunity opens, don't let it close.
Flora also dabbles in the enigmatic art of witchcraft and can brew potions in her kitchen in Magical Delicacy. You essentially work a double shift, as you can only craft witch-related things during the evening. The night and day aspect should have added an interesting dichotomy to the gameplay, acknowledging the enchanting power of being a witch and how they could harness it to their advantage in the kitchen, but it felt no different to the cooking during the day. So it made these elements feel a bit lackluster, and an inconvenience to wait till the in-game night time to cook potions. Nothing about it felt special.
Magical Delicacy has a beautiful coat of 2D pixelated graphics, which gives the world a unique vibe. The magical world theme complements this, as you will run across anthropomorphic animals, cat ladies, traditional soldiers, and witches, and it made me intrigued to explore the town, the variety of shops, and further beyond to see what I would find next.
Traversing the landscape is very simple, as the platforming segments are not too elaborate or complicated. The map is broken down into small sub-sections, making it easy to track where you are going and not get too lost. Most people should not find the platforming too challenging; however, if you do find some of the platforming portions difficult, there is an accessibility option available that will make the jumps even easier again. It is great to see this game feature this inclusive option.
As you would expect, maneuvering yourself through different platform levels on the map will allow you to reach other locations. These places can range from areas encompassing a bustling town center to a bell tower or large rural spaces. The lower platforms tend to have overgrown, vine-like plants and rocky cave structures, while the higher level is set higher in the sky. Certain food ingredients will also tend to spawn in specific environmental areas, so it's worth checking all your surroundings.
After completing story-related quests from the townfolk, you will acquire new magical tricks to access areas you could not before. Some of these include casting a mist spell to propel you into the sky or transforming into an ominous black cat that can walk through small, tight spaces. This incentivized me to push through with the quests, even though I didn't find the story the most compelling, so I could travel further and gain more potential cooking ingredients. Plus, who doesn't want to transform into a magical black cat?
I did observe a few technical hiccups in Magical Delicacy. The first one was while playing using the controller, the map would regularly not load until I pressed the corresponding button several times. I noticed this would happen more often in the platforming areas as well, where you would most likely interact with the map, which is not ideal. The second issue was the game flat-out crashed on me when I fell off the edge of the map. Hopefully, these are things they can address with patches later, but it's worth noting if you intend to jump in on day one of release.
Overall, Magical Delicacy offers a cozy and relaxing experience that you can play at a leisurely pace, which makes it inclusive to all players, regardless of skill level. The cooking aspects are done incredibly well, and it creates an enticing gameplay loop where you want to keep making new dishes. However, the game was not ambitious enough with its centralized theme about witches, which had ample opportunities to introduce some fascinating mechanics but failed to capitalize on this, ultimately holding back the experience.
Magical Delicacy is available on the PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X, and the Nintendo Switch version launches on August 15, 2024.
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Siliconera Tuesday, July 16, 2024 9:30 AM
For the first time since the game came out in Japan, Taiko no Tatsujin machines will appear in arcades in North America. You'll be able to play the game from November 2024. [Thanks, PR Times!]
The newest songs available in Japan will be in the machines via online updates. As well, you'll be able to use a Bandai Namco Passport (essentially a user ID card) to record your play record. In a comment from John Mackenzie, who is a representative for Bandai Namco Amusement America Inc., the company is very excited to bring the game over to North America due to its "great play value." Haruo Iwayaguchi of the Japanese branch notes that due to its simplicity, Taiko no Tatsujin is very popular in arcades amid players of all ages.
Bandai Namco first released Taiko no Tatsujin in 2001. The arcade machine simulates a taiko drum in which players need to hit with drum sticks depending on the notes. Though the machines never made it to North America, North American users were able to play the game through console or mobile apps like Pop Tap Beat. Countries other than Japan that have the machines in its arcades include China and Australia.
Taiko no Tatsujin will appear in arcades in North America from November 2024.
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Siliconera Tuesday, July 16, 2024 9:00 AM
HoYoVerse has released the drip marketing for Feixiao, who'll be a new playable character in Honkai: Star Rail. She'll be a 5-star Wind Hunt character and she'll be in the gacha in Version 2.5.
We already had an inkling of Feixiao due to the lore dumps on the Xianzhou. She is the Merlin Claw of the Xianzhou Yaoqing, as well as that Xianzhou ship's Arbiter-General. As for her personality, she is "unrestrained and frank, dashing and straightforward." Though people call her the Great General, she prefers the Lacking General because she lacks things like regrets and rivals.
However, Feixiao has the Moon Rage affliction, which implies that she has some borisin heritage. Borisins, for reference, are Denizens of Abundance who are distantly related to foxians. Yingxing (Blade) had his homeworld destroyed by the borisin.
In English, Anairis Quiñones voices Feixiao. Other roles from her include Lynette in Genshin Impact, Kimberly in Street Fighter 6, and Momo in Anonymous;Code. Her Japanese voice actress is Mikako Komatsu. You may have heard her in Jujutsu Kaisen as Maki, Tales of Zestiria as Rose, and Fate/Grand Order as Caenis, Xuanzang, and Valkyrie Hildr. Finally, in Chinese, Ye Zhiqiu voices Feixiao. Ye's previous roles include Qu in Punishing Gray Raven, Rosa in Arknights, and Echo in Overwatch.
Honkai: Star Rail is readily available on the PS5, Windows PC, and mobile devices. Feixiao will appear in Honkai: Star Rail in Version 2.5.
The post Feixiao Will Be a Wind Hunt Character in Honkai: Star Rail appeared first on Siliconera. |
WGB Tuesday, July 16, 2024 7:27 AM A site update indicates Rockstar might be planning on bringing GTA+ to the Nintendo Switch. |