Kotaku Saturday, September 28, 2024 12:30 PM  Movies often portray robots as the harbingers of something bad, whether they're evil and want to take over the world (Terminator, I, Robot, The Matrix, etc.) or are being exploited by humans (Blade Runner, Ex Machina, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, etc.). But robots aren't all bad—they can be fun, cute, and… |
Kotaku Saturday, September 28, 2024 12:00 PM  This week, Sony opened up pre-orders for the items in its 30th Anniversary PlayStation 5 collection, and for many at least, the experience of trying to snag anything was one of confusion and frustration. Also, we'll tell you about a great arcade platformer called Bzzzt that's now available on Switch, explore how… |
Kotaku Saturday, September 28, 2024 9:15 AM  Welcome to the weekend, puzzlers! And what better way to start the weekend with a nice short puzzle? Challenging, but short. There are advantages to not being sucked into a weeks-long epic slog of a game. |
Kotaku Saturday, September 28, 2024 9:00 AM  Sony held a State of Play showcase this week that showed off a few new games alongside updates for Astro Bot, Alan Wake 2, and others, with the biggest reveal being our first look at the sequel to Ghost of Tsushima. Meanwhile, Xbox held an event of its own at Tokyo Game Show, images of some of the amazing merch… |
PCGamesN Saturday, September 28, 2024 1:59 PM  What was in Minecraft Live 2024? Minecraft Live is a twice-annual livestream event hosted by members of the Mojang team to inform the community about the latest goings on, development updates, and more. The event is always a huge date among the Minecraft community, so we're always looking forward to the next one. Each year before now, usually around the Summer, a brand-new, epic update has come to everyone's favorite sandbox game, and undeniably one of the best PC games of all time, Minecraft. In recent years, that update has been announced during Minecraft Live. Now, things are ramping up with two of these events a year, so here's what we know about how that impacts the Minecraft calendar what was announced in the latest livestream. Continue reading Minecraft Live 2024 stream date and latest news MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Minecraft seeds, Minecraft skins, Minecraft mods |
PCGamesN Saturday, September 28, 2024 1:59 PM  What is the Minecraft Bundles of Bravery update? The next Minecraft update is coming to the vanilla game, and features a new feature for Bedrock players alongside a long-awaited new storage item. Another larger update then follows shortly afterwards, bringing a creepy new biome and mob to Minecraft. Annual Minecraft updates have been announced during the Minecraft Live livestream for the last few years, but Mojang recently announced that there will now be more regular, smaller updates spread throughout the year, and the Minecraft Bundles of Bravery update is the next one of those. Here's everything coming to the sandbox game in the next Minecraft update and beyond. MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Minecraft seeds, Minecraft skins, Minecraft mods |
PCGamesN Saturday, September 28, 2024 1:38 PM  September 28, 2024: We've added one 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 September 2024 MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best board games, Monopoly Go events, Monopoly Go dice |
PCGamesN Saturday, September 28, 2024 1:03 PM  Don't let the absolutely ridiculous name fool you: Octopath Traveler 2 is a remarkable game. Despite its bizarre naming convention (get it together Square Enix), Octopath Traveler 2 was certainly one of the best JRPGs to release in 2023, making its mark on the genre with gorgeous HD-2D graphics and an incredibly deep and satisfying turn-based combat system. For those who skipped out on the game when it first launched, you're in luck. Continue reading Must-play 2023 JRPG Octopath Traveler 2 hits its lowest price yet |
PCGamesN Saturday, September 28, 2024 12:27 PM  It's no easy feat to nail the gameplay and atmosphere of a strategy game, making Mechabellum a fairly remarkable feat. The indie game has fully launched on Steam with patch 1.0, garnering instant praise for its massively updated visuals and a ton of new additions to the game as it finally exits early access after 16 months. For auto battler fans seeking a new game to sink their teeth into, it'll be hard to overlook Mechabellum. Continue reading Mechabellum 1.0 launches with big updates and even bigger Steam sale |
PCGamesN Saturday, September 28, 2024 11:34 AM  Throne and Liberty, a game that has been in development at NCSoft since the Stone Age (2011), has finally hit Steam in early access. Despite its long time cooking behind the scenes, the title has captivated an absolutely massive audience ahead of its full release in a period where you still have to pay to play the game. Clearly, the cost of starting the game ahead of its free-to-play launch was no deterrent for many as the game's peak player count is already reaching massive new highs. MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best MMORPGs, Throne and Liberty codes, Throne and Liberty weapons |
PCGamesN Saturday, September 28, 2024 10:24 AM  Dedicated Atlus fans were exhilarated when the upcoming Metaphor: ReFantazio was announced as getting a lengthy free demo on Steam. For PC players, ReFantazio is one of the most highly anticipated games of the year, coming straight from the minds of the Persona series. However, since the free demo hit Steam, there have been more than a few issues with performance, leading the developers at Studio Zero to recognize the problems and promise to solve them quickly. MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Metaphor Refantazio release date, Best RPG games, Best JRPGs |
PCGamesN Saturday, September 28, 2024 9:45 AM  While we saw a huge flood of social deduction multiplayer games after the huge lockdown success of Among Us, none have charmed me quite so much as newcomer Dale and Dawson Stationery Supplies. Released in August by Striped Panda Studios, it tasks one player with managing an office and attempting to root out potential slackers in the pursuit of productivity. Having already proved popular on YouTube and Twitch, a new Dale and Dawson update adds control options and lets you take matters outside. Continue reading Viral multiplayer hit Dale and Dawson heads outdoors in new update MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best multiplayer games, Best indie games |
PCGamesN Saturday, September 28, 2024 9:25 AM  While there are tons of Pokemon style adventures on the gaming market, not enough of these titles are improving the trading card game aspect. That's where Isle of Swaps comes in, a new title from Fuzz Force (an appropriately named company) that has just been released on Steam. Isle of Swaps focuses the gameplay on building up a deck of critters, celebrating the pack opening and trading aspects of TCGs that haven't been given nearly enough attention. Continue reading Pokemon inspired deckbuilder Isle of Swaps hits Steam with free demo |
PCGamesN Saturday, September 28, 2024 7:31 AM  If you just can't wait for Diablo 4 Vessel of Hatred to get your ARPG fix, roguelike game Dwarven Realms might be just what you're after. Coming from two-person indie dev Crater Studios, it blends satisfying hack-and-slash combat with a surprising amount of depth, vast enemy hordes akin to Vampire Survivors, and a branching skill tree inspired by Path of Exile to create something that might surprise you. Having just launched out of early access after almost two years, it's already proving a winner among players. Continue reading Diablo style roguelike Dwarven Realms is a surprisingly deep ARPG MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best roguelikes, Best games like Diablo, Best indie games |
PCGamesN Saturday, September 28, 2024 7:26 AM  September 28, 2024: We have checked and marked one of the previously working Blox Fruits codes as expired. What are the new Blox Fruits codes? We've compiled a regularly updated list of all Roblox Blox Fruits codes to redeem in-game freebies like XP boosts, free Beli, and stat resets for your pirate adventures. Need a boost to take on the increasingly tricky competition? We've got you covered. Blox Fruits is one of the biggest Roblox games ever, thanks to its fun, anime-inspired pirate action. That said, it can be challenging to find new free codes, so we've done the hard work and listed all the active Blox Fruits codes in 2024, including for Update 23, in one handy place below. Once you're up to date on the new Blox Fruits codes, consider checking out our ultimate Blox Fruits guide or our in-depth Blox Fruits tier list for the current meta. Continue reading Blox Fruits codes September 2024 - free XP and money MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best Roblox games, Roblox promo codes, Roblox music codes |
PCGamesN Saturday, September 28, 2024 6:36 AM  It almost doesn't feel real after so long waiting, but Ashes of Creation Alpha 2 is just one month away from starting. With FF14 Dawntrail, WoW The War Within, and now the launch of new Amazon MMORPG Throne and LIberty upon us, 2024 has been a busy year for fans of massively multiplayer games. As the ambitious Ashes of Creation from Intrepid Studios plans to bring more players into the testing fold, a new developer video gives us a look at the earliest hours of our time in Verra. MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Ashes of Creation interview, Ashes of Creation preview |
Siliconera Saturday, September 28, 2024 12:00 PM
I have a general lack of interest and excitement for Sony's regular State of Play series of showcases going over PlayStation, in particular PS5 and PSVR 2, game announcements. They often pale in comparison to other similar presentations from competitors and, of course, the company's own signature event showcases. However, the recent Tokyo Game Show (TGS 2024) State of Play is the exception, as I believe it is the best one yet.
The core of what makes this TGS 2024 State of Play the best one so far is two-fold. The first is that Sony offered a little bit of something for almost everyone. It felt like a mini-PlayStation Showcase. The State of Play kicked off with a solid intro, revealing free DLC coming to Astro Bot. This is a smooth way to remind players of one of the recent Game of the Year contenders and show some love to those who already beat it.
From there, the State of Play had the right mix of brand new announcements and updates for existing games. New information about and gameplay details for games like Dragon Age: The Veilguard and PS5 version of Palworld were welcome announcements. Then there are reveals of intriguing games like Hell Is Us, the stunning The Midnight Walk, and surprisingly fascinating ArcheAge Chronicles.
If that isn't enough, we got release dates for titles like Fantasian Neo Dimension, Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered, and Dynasty Warriors: Origins. If you are a PSVR 2 owner, this State of Play even justified owning the VR headset a bit more. There were significant and welcome announcements of games like Metro Awakening and Hitman: World of Assassination too.
That is all before including the two showstopper headliners. Monster Hunter Wilds looked fantastic yet again in its latest trailer. Fortunately, this State of Play revealed the release date, which is quite soon. But above all else, there is Ghost of Yotei. The final announcement came out of nowhere and was a shocking surprise. Ghost of Tsushima still remains the most stunning game I've ever played, and Ghost of Yotei looks to follow up on its predecessor.
No matter what, there was something for everyone in this TGS 2024 State of Play. If you like JRPGs, there's that. If you like VR, there were some solid options. And if you are looking forward to biggest blockbuster third and first-party hits, that was also here. Sure, not every game appeals to everyone. In fact, only really two new game announcements were for me personally: Ghost of Yotei and Lunar Remastered Collection.
However, the spectacle of the presentation and general lineup all worked so well. Even the games I didn't care too much about stood out with well-executed trailers. This State of Play is the first of its kind to remind me of the good old days of attending Sony Press Conferences at E3. Plus, it helps that this State of Play was far more interesting and better balanced than any to date.
That said, the competition wasn't that impressive. The best State of Play before this one, in my opinion, was held in May 2019. It had the right mix of new announcements and re-reveals. The headliners were games like Final Fantasy VII Remake, MediEvil, and Monster Hunter World: Iceborne. Again, all staples that appealed to everyone. Even that particular State of Play wasn't that substantial or long. And to make matters worse, most of the State of Plays since then have been significantly worse.
Fortunately, this most recent TGS 2024 State of Play changed all that. It feels like a mini-PlayStation Showcase with something for just about everyone. I just hope Sony is able to keep up this level of quality and announcements with the next one.
Tokyo Game Show 2024 is running from September 26-29, 2024. The TGS 2024 State of Play aired on September 24, 2024.
The post 2024 Tokyo Game Show State of Play Is the Best One Yet appeared first on Siliconera. |
Siliconera Saturday, September 28, 2024 11:30 AM
Auger has revealed that it will sell shaving razors themed after characters from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind. The razors will be available for sale in stores across Japan in November 2024.
The new collaboration razors will appear in two variants based on Giorno Giovanna and Bruno Bucciarati. However, Auger will also bundle it with one of the acrylic stands that can feature six more characters. The latter list will consist of Trish Una, Guido Mista, Narancia Ghirga, Leone Abbacchio, Pannacotta Fugo, and one more secret character.
A single package of this collaboration product will cost around ￥2,420 (~$17), although the price may vary depending on the store. Auger will also sell a limited set that lets the buyer get all eight character acrylic stands exclusively on its web store at ￥17,600 (~$124).
More merchandise themed after the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure franchise has also been revealed in recent months. CASETiFY released cell phone cases featuring Stardust Crusaders characters in May 2024. Meanwhile, Graniph will sell shirts and apparel based on Stardust Crusaders and Stone Ocean in October 2024.
Auger will release the razors and acrylic stands featuring JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind characters on November 1, 2024.
The post Auger Reveals JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind Razors appeared first on Siliconera. |
Siliconera Saturday, September 28, 2024 10:30 AM
Konami announced at the Suikoden I & II HD Remaster talk show in TGS 2024 that it will work with Music Engine to hold a new Suikoden acoustic live concert. The concert will take place in Tokyo on December 14, 2024.
Konami had previously held a Suikoden-themed orchestra concert in 2022, and it has also opened pre-orders for Blu-rays based on that concert. While the previous concert featured tracks from all five mainline Suikoden entries, this acoustic live concert will focus on the first two titles. This is because Konami will hold the concert ahead of the release of Suikoden I & II HD Remaster for the PS4, Switch, Xbox One, and PC on March 6, 2025.
Here are the first six tracks confirmed in the setlist for this concert:
The Suikoden TGS 2024 talk show also revealed more details about the upcoming remaster compilation. Konami announced that a 2x battle speed option will be available from the beginning, but players can also upgrade to 4x speed after some conditions have been met. The company also showed samples of new translations of a Viktor quote from Japanese to English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, and Chinese (Traditional and Simplified).
The Suikoden Acoustic Live Concert will be held at the Spiral Hall in Tokyo, Japan, on Saturday, December 14, 2024.
The post Suikoden Acoustic Live Concert Will Be Held in December 2024 appeared first on Siliconera. |
Siliconera Saturday, September 28, 2024 9:00 AM
Keylocker sounds like exactly the kind of game made for me. Stylish cyberpunk aesthetics, a rebellious spirit, rhythm-based mechanics, and influences from classic RPGs? Sign me up, I'm there! Regrettably, Keylocker never landed for me for many reasons.
Keylocker stars B0B0, or Bobo as she prefers to be called, a rebellious musician living in a world where music has been banned. We start the story as she breaks out of prison thanks to her hacker brother, a move so explosive she destroys part of the prison in the process. The siblings then team up with a jukebox robot found in a scrapheap, heading out to take on The Man and bring back music to the people.
It's a cheesy concept that's been seen countless times before, but Keylocker knows the exact tone it needs to sell you on it. Bobo is a fun character, full of brash self-confidence and a refusal to accept the system as it stands. It's not hard to get swept up in her schemes, even when they're painfully stupid and suicidal on paper.
The world itself is also interesting. It takes place on a colony around Saturn, one where shadowy cabals maintain harsh rules and restrictions that they claim are required to stop the whole colony crashing into the planet. The cast is a quirky bunch of weirdos of various unexplained humanoid races, from robots to hippo children, and where people can replace their heads on a whim, including the religious order's tendency to replace their heads with cones.
It's all presented in a scratchy, unrefined art style that feels like the developers manually drew every pixel. This perfectly fits the game's rebellious attitude, where technical skill isn't required for artistic expression, and where the rough edges give everything personality.
Sadly, this is where my love of the presentation ends, as while the world has an interesting concept and the cast is likeable, the story is poorly told. The world is high concept, but few of its ideas are communicated properly. Strange terms are casually thrown around without much explanation to the point where it can feel weird for the sake of being weird. I couldn't help but compare it with Paradise Killer, another game awash with a neon sheen in a world of bizarre concepts, but I latched onto that much quicker than I did with Keylocker.
A big part of this is done to how the early story plays out. Sure, Bobo is a likeable protagonist, but her early quests don't have much direction to them. They're little more than fetch quests for characters she has a prior relationship with but we as the audience don't get much background on. Next thing you know, I'm in a weird dimension in the desert collecting a vitally important music box that will change the fate of the world. I'm not entirely sure how I ended up there.
I'd be able to go along with this if the gameplay felt good but this is the other major problem with Keylocker. Combat is turn-based, taking place on a grid-based system where positioning is important. In addition, the combat utilizes timed hits, where pressing a button at the right time can boost attack or defense depending on who's attacking. Imagine a cross between Mega Man Battle Network and Super Mario RPG for a vague idea of what to expect here. However, two fundamental problems become obvious early on. The first is that the grid movement feels functionally useless and the timed hits are frustrating to execute.
Let's start with the grid movement. Combat takes place on a series of hexagons, and your moves will attack a certain shape around you. Some moves will attack in a line, others in an arc immediately in front of you while others encircle you. All perfectly acceptable. However, movement costs a turn, and suddenly the problems arise.
There's no system of movement and an action, like other games with this sort of movement. You perform an action or you move, you can't do both. Movement effectively places you in front of an enemy ready to be attacked, but you can neither attack nor set up a counterattack as a trap for them. That has to wait until your next turn and can easily be derailed with an enemy movement or an attack that forces a change to your position. It's a baffling system and I have no idea why they did it this way as it killed all semblance of strategic movement.
The timed hits are the real maddening issue though. I have enjoyed plenty of games with this mechanic, from assorted Mario RPGs to last year's Sea of Stars. But what made timed hits such a fun system in those games was how it felt like a reward. Getting the timing right meant extra damage or negating damage you receive. In Keylocker, they feel essential and missing them is a punishment. Miss a parry and you see almost your entire health bar deleted. Miss an attack and chip about 1HP off them.
This is bad enough, but the timing windows are extremely tight. Characters will flash to indicate when to hit the button, but universally it seemed like tapping when you see the flash was always a miss. It got to the point where I felt I had to anticipate the flash and press it slightly ahead of its appearance. However, this had its own problems as attack windups are dragged out longer than necessary, which made all my hits early. I tried working off the sound effects but even they ended way too early.
It's a massive contrast to the more intuitive timed hits in other games. I never once struggled to grasp when to time a Mario stomp or a Moonerang swipe, and any I missed felt like my own poor timing. In Keylocker, I was constantly dropping the timings and could never truly figure out what I was doing wrong. Even adjusting the difficulty failed to change much.
And this is the problem with Keylocker. At almost every turn it reminded me of better games. Whether it's the better execution of rhythm-based combat and rebellious rock-and-roll spirit in Hi-Fi Rush, the timed hits of Super Mario RPG or the movement of any half-decent strategy RPG, it made me constantly wish I was playing any of these games instead. It's a shame, because it's clear that a lot of love and passion went into this game. There's a solid foundation for Keylocker to work with here, but what was built on top of it is shaky.
Ultimately, Keylocker was a frustrating experience. There's some solid writing and a world that I'd love to explore further. Sadly, it's buried under an unintuitive combat system and poor plotting for it to realize its full potential.
Keylocker is out now for Switch, PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC.
The post Review: Keylocker Struggles to Stay in Rhythm appeared first on Siliconera. |
MonsterVine Saturday, September 28, 2024 9:00 AM Is there anything worse than your parents sending you to a relative's house for the summer? Maybe if that relative is your curmudgeonly old grandpa and he lives in, eugh, the SUBURBS. Of course, he's going to make you do things like clean up around the house, tend to his garden, and cook your own […] |