Turrican returns in a special 30th birthday edition

Check your WTF2020 bingo card and just beside 'Global pandemic', to the left of 'Australia is on fire', and above 'Murder hornets' and 'White House confirms UFOs', you will see 'Amiga classic Turrican is coming back'.

Thirty years after one of the best ever platforming shooters was released, Turrican is returning with original development team in charge and Strictly Limited Games on publishing duties. A trailer will be shown tomorrow at the Gamescom Opening Night Live but no further details have been announced. It could be a port of the original game, a remaster, or maybe even a new title.

Strictly Limited Games have a history of digging up forgotten classics, back in 2018 the managed to unearth the code for a long lost Psygnosis game, Hardcore, and released on PlayStation.

Turrican launched in 1990 and was developed for the Commodore 64 by Manfred Trenz and was an instant hit, with Amstrad, ZX Spectrum, Gameboy, Atari ST and Amiga versions quickly following – the Amiga version was the best, of course.

Sequels followed, Turrican II: The Final Fight and Turrican 3: Payment Day, along wither versions for the SNES, NES, and Megadrive that took parts of the the three games and created new versions. There were also plans for Turrican to go 3D with THQ creating a version for PC and Dreamcast, but the project was cancelled.

In 2007 the development team Factor 5, who ported the original game to Amiga and Atari ST, announced they were working on a next gen version of the game.

"We've been concepting quite a bit internally. That's another universe creation thing. I was looking at Metroid Prime's reinventing of a franchise that had been out there for quite awhile, and we're facing the same thing with Turrican," said Factor 4 president Julian Eggebrecht at the time.

There's aspects of the old games where people will feel betrayed if we don't transform them into the next generation. On the other hand, there's other stuff which is simply cheesy, let's face it. I don't think gamers will accept those things anymore. It's a fine line to balance."

Sadly Factor 5 went under shortly after the announcement.

Top fact: The track "Subsong 2" from the Commodore 64 version of Turrican is a copy of the song "Escape" which is heard in the original 1980's The Transformers: The Movie soundtrack!

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War paid next-gen upgrades & cross-gen bundles explained

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War's announcement has come with it the need to explain an array of different versions, bundles and upgrade options between the current gen PlayStation 4 and Xbox One and the next-gen PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.

The game is out on 13th November for PS4, Xbox One and PC, and depending on if the next-gen consoles are out on that day, it will also be out for PS5 and Xbox Series X, or on the day of launch for those consoles.

Whether you're planning on getting a next-gen console at its launch, or some point later, it's important to know what all of the different options are. Brace yourselves, because…. it's a bit silly.

Black Ops Cold War Digital Editions

  • Standard Digital Edition – $59.99 / £59.99 / €69.99 – PS4, XBO, PC – This can be upgraded to the Digital Cross-Gen Edition for $10.
  • Digital Cross-Gen Edition – $69.99 / £64.99 / €74.99 – PS4 and PS5, XBO and XSX – Includes dual licenses for both generations.
  • Ultimate Edition – $89.99 / £89.99 / €99.99 – PS4 and PS5, XBO and XSX, PC – Includes dual licenses for both generations in a console family, "Land, Sea, and Air Pack", and the Battle Pass Bundle.

There are no Standard Digital Editions for PS5 or Xbox Series X. Seemingly the only way to get them is to buy the Cross-Gen Edition.

Pre-ordering digitally will get you into the Early Access Open Beta, Woods Operator Pack, and Confrontation Weapons Pack that you get for pre-ordering digitally. These are not included with the physical editions.

Black Ops Cold War Physical Editions

  • Standard Physical Edition (PS4) – $59.99 – PS4 – Can be upgraded to PS5 via PlayStation Store.
  • Standard Physical Edition (XBO) – $59.99 – XBO – Cannot be upgraded to next-gen.
  • Standard Physical Edition (PS5) – $69.99 – PS5 – No compatibility with PS4.
  • Standard Physical Edition (XSX) – $69.99 – XSX, XBO – Includes an Xbox Series X disc that is also playable on an Xbox One.

Update: Added PlayStation pricing revealed by Activision.

In all cases, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War features cross-play, cross-progression and cross-gen features. Additionally, the PS4 version is playable on PS5, and Xbox One version playable on Xbox Series X via backward compatibility. However, this will mean you do not receive next-gen features like higher frame rate modes and ray tracing.

As you can see, it's all a bit of a mess. Xbox One can upgrade digitally, but not physically, PS4 can be upgraded in both cases, but then the PS5 physical version doesn't include the PS4 version. There's also a question mark over the cost of upgrading, where we only have the USD price, compared to the base cost of the Digital Cross-Gen Edition, which has a $10 or £5 difference in price.

This should really be a bit more straightforward, but it seems like Microsoft's attempts to simplify things via Smart Delivery weren't to Activision's taste, and they may have come to some kind of agreement on the ability to upgrade between editions on the digital store.

Sources: Activision, PlayStation, Xbox 

The Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War beta launches first on PlayStation, here's how get it

Activision's partnership with Sony will continue this year the PlayStation 4 players getting their hands on the Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War beta at least five days before it goes live on any platform. However, according the PlayStation blog only those who pre-order the digital edition of the game will be getting in the beta.

In addition, digital pre-orders receive early access to the open beta, first on PS4.

Beta's for games are usually included in pre-orders for physical editions as well, order the game from a retailer like Amazon and they will send you a code but that does not seem to be the case for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. At present it seems the only way you will get in to the Cold War beta is buying purchasing the digital edition of the game, the FAQ posted by Activision has no mention of a beta if you are buying the game on disc.

Another familiar product, the 'Day One Edition', is also missing from the line up which means you only get pre-order goodies by going digital.

Physical pre-orders are not entitled to any bonus content (Early Access Open Beta, Woods Operator Pack, and Confrontation Weapons Pack) that comes with digital pre-orders.

It seems Activision are doing everything they can to make consumers buy the digital editions, PlayStation 4 owners who buy the game on disc will be able to purchase an next gen upgrade, Xbox One owners will not.

PlayStation 4 version will have an option to upgrade to PlayStation 5 through the PlayStation Store. Please note: The PlayStation 4 disc must be inserted into the PlayStation 5 to access the

  • PlayStation 4 version will have an option to upgrade to PlayStation 5 through the PlayStation Store. Please note: The PlayStation 4 disc must be inserted into the PlayStation 5 to access the digitally upgraded PS5 version of the game.

  • Xbox One version cannot be upgraded to Xbox Series X. 

You can read more about Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War here.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War revealed – out this November with cross-gen bundles and paid upgrades

The long-awaited reveal trailer for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War has arrived, with Activision announcing that the game will be out for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC on 13th November. It will also be out for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X "in late 2020", either at the launch of the game or as soon as the consoles are available.

There will be multiple versions of the game, with cross-gen bundles and next-gen upgrades. It's all a bit muddled, so we've detailed this in another post:

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War paid next-gen upgrades & cross-gen bundles explained

CODBOCW (probably pronounced 'cod-bock-wuh') is a direct sequel to Call of Duty: Black Ops, one of the defining games of the long-running shooter. It takes the series back to the Cold War (duh!) after delving into sci-fi futuristic settings for the last few Treyarch Call of Duty games, but picks things up in 1981 and the era of President Reagan, and with Raven leading the single player development.

We can expect the game to feature a globetrotting narrative going through East Berlin, Vietnam, Turkey, the Soviet KGB HQ and beyond. It has returning character Woods, Mason and Hudson hot on the heels of an antagonist known as Perseus, looking to destabilise the world and likely see it descend in the anarchy and war. This will see a shift to more spy thriller themes, with several Hitman-esque open world levels. For the first time you'll be able to create your own character for single player.

The game trailer has been revealed through an in-game treasure hunt in Call of Duty: Warzone, with players diving into a modified version of the game, collect classified documents, get a key and follow a series of clues until they meet Woods and get a gun from him. It was all just a prelude to a trailer being played in-game with a transmission coming after around 20 minutes of people struggling to get onto servers in time and then going through the treasure hunt to kill time.

CODBOCW was teased last week with a video featuring real world archival footage, however, this trailer was soon pulled and replaced with a much shorter version of the trailer, reportedly done to remove footage of Tiananmen Square that had the original trailer banned in China. Ironically, despite the tagline "Know Your History", Activision seemed doomed to end up in the Chinese government's naughty books and hastily made the change globally.

Those pre-ordering the game will be getting some bonuses for other games in the Call of Duty franchise. Sergeant Frank Woods will be joining the Demon Dogs in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare multiplayer and the free-to-play Call of Duty: Warzone battle royale, which will continue independently from the main games.

More details of CODBOCW will seemingly come on 9th September, detailing the Treyarch designed multiplayer, co-op and what it means for Warzone. The game will support cross-play between generations and cross-progression through all modes.

via Eurogamer

Epic decide Fortnite Chapter 2 – Season 4 update will not be coming to iPhone, iPad and Mac on 27th August

Epic have confirmed that Fortnite will not be updated to Chapter 2 – Season 4 on iPhone, iPad and Mac tomorrow, alongside other platforms. This is due to Apple blocking the game from the iOS App Store while it contains direct payment methods that breach their terms of service, something which has led to Epic and Apple ending up in court.

In an update to their FAQ on the situation, Epic state:

Apple is blocking Fortnite updates and new installs on the App Store, and has said they will terminate our ability to develop Fortnite for Apple devices. As a result, Fortnite's newly released Chapter 2 – Season 4 update (v14.00), will not release on iOS and macOS on August 27.

The update will also not be coming to Android players who have downloaded the game from the Google Play Store, however Epic note that you can download the game directly from them or the Samsung Galaxy Store instead.

This comes in the wake of a court ruling on Epic's requests for injunctive relief while their law suit against Apple is in the courts. After breaching the App Store developer agreement, Apple pulled Fortnite from the store, and was immediately met with a planned lawsuit and buzzy marketing campaign. The next day, Apple determined that Epic's breach of contract was serious enough that it warranted the company being booted from their developer programme entirely, not just affecting Fortnite, but also blocking Epic from updating the Unreal Engine that it and many iOS games are based on.

Epic requested an injunction to stay Apple's hand and prevent them from blocking Unreal Engine and Fortnite updates. The Unreal Engine block even saw Microsoft weigh in to support Epic, but not on the matter of Fortnite. The Court also agreed with this, stating that blocking Unreal Engine would have far reaching effects across the industry, which would be far too complicated to untangle with damages down the line. However, on the matter of Fortnite, they said:

Epic Games remains free to maintain its agreements with Apple in breach status as this litigation continues, but as the Seventh Circuit recognized in Second City Music, "[t]he sensible way to proceed is for [Epic to comply with the agreements and guidelines] and continue to operate while it builds a record." "Any injury that [Epic Games] incurs by following a different course is of its own choosing." Epic Games admits that the technology exists to "fix" the problem easily by deactivating the "hotfix." That Epic Games would prefer not to litigate in that context does not mean that "irreparable harm" exists.

And so, while Epic are keen to continue to paint Apple as the bad guys here, and plainly state that it's entirely their fault… it's not. The Court has determined that this one's on Epic, who willingly and knowingly breached an agreement they disagree with and have acknowledged that it would be easy to revert the changes. Apple have also stated that they would be happy to restore Fortnite to the store so long as it removes the direct payment option.

Of course, it's all for effect, to continue to play this out in the court of public opinion as well as in the actual court. We'll have to wait and see how Epic decide to play this in the weeks and months to come. It wouldn't be terribly surprising for them to backtrack once they've decided they've made their point and got enough attention.

Source: Epic

September's free PlayStation Plus games have been revealed

Sony have revealed two big hitters for September's free PlayStation Plus games, quite literally. The fighting game Street Fighter V and the iconic battle royale PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (better known as PUBG) will be given away for free to PS Plus subscribers next month, starting on 1st September.

Though not quite the first of its kind, PUBG became the definitive battle royale game for many when it launched in Steam Early Access in March 2017. It was an absolute phenomenon, spawning countless imitators, and lead to the revival of Fortnite from a co-op wave-based survival game into something people actually gave a damn about. PUBG then made the jump to Xbox One at the end of 2017, before arriving on PlayStation 4 in December 2018.

The gist, for those that don't know, is that you and up to 99 other players drop into one of a range of maps with nothing but the clothes on your back. From there, you have to scrounge around for weapons, armour and other items, fighting for survival as a storm pushes players closer and closer together until one final person (or team of up to four) is crowned victorious.

The game is also notoriously wonky and has mediocre performance, regardless of the platform you run it on. We handed it a solid 8/10 in the original review on PC citing those bugs, while for its PS4 release, we called it "Rough, Ready, But Still Relevant."

On the other end of the scale is Street Fighter V, the latest entry in Capcom's long-running fighting game series in which you go one on one with another player or the AI. You've got a variety of single player modes to take part in, but the real test will be in online matches.

Speaking of which, Sony are kicking off a Street Fighter V PS4 Tournaments in the US and Canada, starting on September 4. There will be unique PS 4 themes, in-game titles and even cash prizes up for grabs.

Street Fighter V is now into its fifth year of content, with Capcom switching to a seasonal approach to its development. Still, at the time of its release in 2016, we had high praise. In out Street Fighter V review, Dave said:

Even as a person whose grasp of fighting games is nowhere near top-tier standard, Street Fighter V is the most fun I've had in a fighting game in years. It's a bold choice by Capcom to make this an expanding platform rather than a simpler game release, and it means that while it's light on content, you have to appraise its stability, core combat and look to its true form in the future. Based on the strength of the gameplay and performance, Street Fighter V is a sublime fighting game and shows that this old dog still has some new tricks.

PUBG and Street Fighter V will be available from Tuesday 1st September until Monday 5th October.

Source: PS Blog

Collection of SaGa Final Fantasy Legend brings three Game Boy RPG classics to Switch in December

Marking the series' 30th anniversary, Square Enix have announced that Collection of SaGa Final Fantasy Legend will be coming to Nintendo Switch on 15th December. This will bundle together the first three games in the series, bringing the classic Game Boy RPGs to Europe for the first time.

 

Created by Akitoshi Kawazu and originally released on Game Boy in 1989, the trio of games will retain their original 8-bit forms, as opposed to receiving a grand remaster of some kind. However, they will still be enhanced, with new features like a character speed boost, adjustable screen magnification and a retro display mode. There will also be a special anniversary song, 8 in-game wallpapers and the choice of Japanese or English text.

If you really want to go all in on the experience, you can detach the Joy-Con, hold the console vertically and play using the onscreen buttons.

Collection of SaGa Final Fantasy Legend will be out for Nintendo Switch on 15th December with a digital-only release.

Source: press release

The Witcher: Monster Slayer is Pokémon Go, but for The Witcher fans

If you like The Witcher, but turned your nose up at Pokémon Go and Harry Potter Wizards Unite for being "for kids", then CD Projekt Red have got just the game for you. Introducing The Witcher: Monster Slayer.

The game will come to iOS and Android in 2020, leaning on many of the same augmented reality world building techniques of Pokémon Go and Wizards Unite. You'll wander around the real world, checking in at various locations, while tracking, studying and ultimately fighting monsters.

In fairness, the game will have a more action RPG slant to it, and does take inspiration from the fantasy world's lore in having you need to prepare for each battle. You'll have to brew potions and oils, craft bombs and monster bait, and upgrade your character before you'll be ready to take on certain monsters. Battles will then take place in first-person AR combat via your phone.

There will also be story-driven quests inspired by the main series of games, taking players on grand adventures…. while you're walking your dog in the park.

The Witcher: Monster Slayer is coming to iOS and Android, with launch dates for both versions set to be revealed later this year.

Source: press release

Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 is coming to current & next-gen consoles in December

The hit block-dropping mash-up Puyo Puyo Tetris is getting a sequel, as Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 comes to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Nintendo Switch on 8th December. Don't worry if you're planning on getting a PS5, because a release on PlayStation 5 is also planned for Holiday 2020 – we've no idea why there's a distinction being made here – and a Steam release will follow some time after that.

It will also please puzzle-heads to know that free next-gen upgrades from Xbox One to Xbox Series X and PlayStation 4 to PlayStation 5 will be free. Even if the game is out on PS4 before PS5, you'll still be able to play the game via backward compatibility anyway.

Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 will bring back the familiar mash-up of the two puzzle games, kitting it out with a brand new story in Adventure mode, hopping back between the two games in various ways and featuring returning and new characters. A new Skill Battle mode is also coming that adds new character-based skills and equippable Item Cards that can tweak your playstyle or power up your team.

There's plenty of game modes for up to four players, including Versus, Fusion, Swap, Party, Big Bang, and there's a new Tournament mode for diehard fans. Lessons will also hope to get newcomers up to speed.

We reviewed the original Puyo Puyo Tetris on its Nintendo Switch release in 2017. Dave said:

Honestly, the best way to experience Puyo Puyo Tetris is to gather some friends and play a local multiplayer session. There's a plethora of modes available and it's a blast to have people play each and every one of them. Despite single player and Online ranked matches being utterly relentless, Puyo Puyo Tetris is still a fun party game with a wholehearted recommendation nonetheless.

I'd agree with pretty much all of that, and it's still great to dive into for Tetris, Puyo Puyo or any of the combinations of the two.

Source: press release

Cobra Kai: The Karate Kid Saga Continues announced for PS4, XB1, and Switch

There is a rebooted version of the classic 1980's film The Karate Kid, which is news to me and probably you as it was only available on YouTube Red, YouTube's subscription service. The TV series, Cabra Kai, has been running since 2018 features William Zabka and Ralph Macchio reprising their roles from the original The Karate Kid movie. The series has been picked up by Netflix and will be available later this year and re-examines the narrative from point of view of Johnny Lawrence, a minor character in the film.

Now living in the affluent hills of Los Angeles, Daniel LaRusso ( Macchio) leads an enviable life with his beautiful family and owns successful string of car dealerships. His high school adversary, Johnny Lawrence (Zabka), has had a less pleasant adulthood and seeks redemption by reopening the famous Cobra Kai karate dojo.

Following me so far? Good, because there's a game based on the series on the way as well, launching on October 27th on PlayStation 4 & Xbox One with the Nintendo Switch version following later on November 24th.

Cobra Kai: The Karate Kid Saga Continues delivers an original two-fold story from dueling perspectives made in collaboration with the series showrunners, complete with character-driven cutscenes and dialogue featuring the voices of Ralph Macchio, William Zabka and more. Play as Daniel LaRusso and his students at Miyagi-Do Karate, or their Cobra Kai rivals, led by Daniel's old rival, Johnny Lawrence. The choice is yours, but only completing both sides of the campaign will unlock the ultimate ending.

Swap between eight playable characters seamlessly in battle, each with their own unique upgradeable attacks, combos and skill trees. Face down fierce enemies and bosses in hard-hitting brawls and explore the Los Angeles of the Cobra Kai universe across 28 story missions. The fight is in your hands!

Source: Press release

Fall Guys becomes the most downloaded PlayStation Plus title ever

Congratulations to Mediatonic as Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout has become the most downloaded PlayStation Plus title ever. That's no mean feat considering the high standard of games that have been on the service including Uncharted remasters, The Last of Us, and Star Wars Battlefront II.

Senior Analyst at Niko Partners, Daniel Ahmad, tweeted "Chinese games and entertainment company Bilibili has secured the rights to publish a mobile version of Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout in China." The Bilibili website confirms the news and reveals a slight name change, in China it will be known as "Jelly Bean: Ultimate Knockout", but it will only be available in that country.

The game was recently patched wit the "Spicy Hot Fix" update 1.06, the changes are below.

Fall Guys 1.06 'Spicy Hot Fix' patch notes

  • Tweaked round selection algorithm to select a Team game only if the team sizes can be equal
  • Party members are now sorted first in spectator mode – Note: This has been delayed to the next update
  • (PS4 Only) Added Controller options, including invert X/Y axis and sensitivity settings
  • Slime Climb: players can no longer grab some of the moving obstacles
  • Jump Showdown: changed geometry to prevent a gameplay exploit
  • Jump Showdown: fixed camera auto-panning
  • Improved in-game store purchase dialog to avoid accidental selections
  • Addressed the top 5 most frequent crashes
  • Visual fixes to some of the outfits
  • (PS4 Only) Improved UI performance on non-Pro PS4 models
  • Added option to change the jump button binding for Japan
  • Trophy/Achievement names and descriptions are now correctly displayed in all supported languages
  • Removed move speed nerf from Yellow Team (Don't post this one)

This isn't the only news for Fall Guys fans this week, as it's been revealed that a sneak preview of Season Two of the game will be shown on the opening night of Gamescom's digital showcase. Keep a beady eye out at 7PM BST if you're planning to tune in.

Fall Guys has been an absolute sensation for the team at developer Mediatonic and publisher Devolver Digital, with the companies revealing that they've sold over 2 million copies on Steam in the game's first week. That's before you take into account however many people have been playing via PlayStation 4, where it's free on PlayStation Plus in August. However, that has also led to some major server issues around launch, with an entire day being effectively wiped out on Friday, as they shored up the servers and added capacity ahead of the weekend. Thankfully things have been fairly steady since then.

We posted our Fall Guys review earlier this month, saying:

Full of cute and cuddly jelly beans bumbling into each other in a race for the crown, Fall Guys is just about the most wholesome battle royale imaginable, and a whole lot of fun.

Fall Guys is out now for PlayStation 4 and PC via Steam.

Wasteland 3 Review in Progress

Wasteland 3 starts as it means to go on. This isometric post-apocalyptic RPG drops players right in the middle of a gunfight against a number of marauders. Before you can get into the thick of it though, you're tasked with creating a characters or simply choose one of the pre-baked character duos to take on your journey. It's a journey that I'm still fairly close to the start of, but given time, this review in progress will be followed by a full review.

In the early stages of Wasteland 3, the narrative and gameplay primarily focus the player's efforts on building the Ranger Base. This is your main hub in the world and it's your job to build it up by employing and acquiring the help of strangers throughout the wasteland. Sometimes it's quite obvious that someone will join you, but I've also found that you can be rewarded for going out of your way to help someone. It's an engaging plot device that weaves both gameplay and narrative together in a way that rewards your engagement.

The character customisation is deep in Wasteland 3, with each playable character having the ability to specialise across a number of different play styles. I went with the punk-rockers – cause why wouldn't you? – who come with a mix of close quarters melee combat and ranged attacks. That's just one of the character types though and there are plenty of ways to build a team to fit your style.

With my finalised characters, I was introduced to the heart of Wasteland 3's gameplay; the combat. If you've ever played the series' previous entries, you'll know what to expect, but for the uninitiated Wasteland 3 plays similarly to the XCOM series. Fights take place across a gridded map, with movement, actions and attacks using the limited amount of AP each character has. Each fight is a balance between aggression, defence and balancing those ability points so you don't end up leaving a character in a compromised position.

Truthfully, it's a whole lot of fun. It's not quite as hard as something like XCOM, but I like it a lot for that reason. I found that Wasteland 3 only typically punished me when I made silly mistakes, like running into a battle without considering positioning or standing a little too close to the explosive barrels that litter battlefields. With some clever thinking and a little foresight, you can really give yourself a tactical advantage on the battlefield. Around ten hours into the game, I found myself defending a family from a murderous gang (who I'd angered by killing the leader's brother). By making the decision to gain higher ground with my sniper, I was able to effectively take their gang down with relative ease. It's in these moments that Wasteland 3 truly shines, providing some of the best turn-based combat I've seen so far this year.

The stellar combat is only narrowly outdone by the game's brilliant narrative system. Wasteland 3 uses your decisions to shape the wasteland around you, and this pays off in ways that are both big and small.. There are around ten different endings to find, with some decisions having massive effects on certain portions of the game. Even a dozen or so hours in, you can already start to see the result of some of your decisions playing out. I really can't wait to see where the narrative takes me and how my actions will affect the world.

Dialogue and narrative have always been a core focus of the Wasteland series, but the introduction of voiced dialogue in Wasteland 3 is by far one of the best improvements the game could make. Voiced dialogue adds a new layer of believability, which in turn further immerses you in the world that inXile have created. The solid voice performance mixed with some great writing has already made me laugh out loud on a number of occasions, so I am looking forward to what the rest of the game offers.

Moral choices are fairly common in gaming now, but Wasteland 3 has already distinguished itself as a game that manages to use them to great effect. It generally presents you with situations and choices that fall within a morally grey area. There are certainly times when it's obvious who the evil character is, but there are also moments in which you can empathise with all parties involved, ultimately making the decisions so much more difficult. There's a particularly tough one early on that resulted in me killing an entire group of people due to the actions of their leader.

Unfortunately, Wasteland 3 isn't without its issues in the run up to launch (and that aren't on the known issues list). Performance is a bit off at times, where enemies can take quite a while to decide to attack in combat, leaving me not knowing what was going on, and The Bizarre area dropped my frame rat down into the teens. Considering I have a Ryzen 5 3600 and Nvidia RTX 2060, that shouldn't really be happening.

Wasteland 3 also features co-op gameplay, letting two players team up to take on the story together, or branch off and forge your own paths through the world. However, only one of you can take part in a conversation at a given time, and there's no ability to listen in. As you can imagine, it's quite difficult to follow what's going on if you aren't privy to the conversations involving the story and missions, and I'd like to see that improved, especially since co-op combat is very enjoyable.

My 10-15 hours with the game so far have been an absolute delight. While there are some minor issues, Wasteland 3 provides an astonishingly large and complex world for players to explore and shape with some of the best turn-based combat we've seen in 2020. I'm going to continue making my way through the wasteland of Colorado and return back with my full review in the days to come.

PS4 firmware update 7.55 is available to download, here are the changes

Sony have released a new firmware update for the PlayStation 4 console, packed full of new features that players have been begging for. Well, that has happened in an alternate dimension, in ours the 7.55 update is another tiny stability update.

This system software update improves system performance

Here's a question for you, have you ever noticed system performance and stability changing after these updates? I certainly have not, perhaps it's a cover up by Sony and they're actually installing 5G digital coronavirus face-masks on behalf of Bill Gates.

Us mere mortals are stuck with 7.55 but Sony are also beta testing PS4 Firmware Update 8.00, the majority of changes seem to be for party chat, with some additional parental controls and smaller updates. Sony will roll out the update to all users after the beta tests so the notes below will give you an idea of what to expect.

PS4 8.00 firmware update changelog 

    • The following changes have been made to Party and Messages
      • When starting a party, you can now choose to create a new group or select an existing group. When you create a new group, it'll be saved even after the party has ended. You can start a new party with the same members by selecting the group that you previously created.
      • You can now use your group across party and messages. you can send messages to a group you created for a party, or start a party with a group you've messaged with.
      • Messages have been added to the screen during parties. When you select messages, you'll see the messages exchanged between members of your group.
      • The public/private settings for parties have been removed. Only members of the group can join the party.
      • You can now change your party settings from the options menu that displays on the screen when you select party. You can also manage your party connection settings when you select [Party Voice Chat Cnnection], which has been added to the party settings.
      • Members of your party can now see when your mic is muted.
      • You can now join parties even if there are members that you've blocked. When you join a party with a blocked member, or when a blocked member joins the party, you'll receive a notification. During the party, you won't hear each other, and the game you're playing, as well as your Share Play status, won't be displayed. In addition, the blocked member won't be notified that you've blocked them.
      • Play Together sessions can no longer be started during a party. For online multiplayer games, you can start a game session within the game.
    • The following changes have been made to parental controls.
      • Communicating with other players and viewing content created by other players have been combined and are now communication and user-generated content. If you've selected "Not Allowed" for either of the settings, the same setting will transfer after the update.

Other updated features:

  • Mute all microphones has been added to the quick menu under sound/devices. This setting mutes all microphones connected to your PS4.
  • The following changes have been made for communities
    • You can no longer create parties from the Community area. You'll need to create a group in a party.
  • You can no longer create a new even in Events – Events created before the update will still be held, and events and tournaments hosted by game developers will continue to take place.
  • For some features, the content displayed on the screen has changed, as well as the screen design.

 

Psycho Krieg and the Fantastic Fustercluck DLC for Borderlands 3 launches next month, check out the trailer here

Gearbox have announced that the third paid DLC pack for Borderlands 3 will launch on September 10th. The hilariously named Psycho Krieg and the Fantastic Fustercluck pack will take players in to the mind of Borderlands 2 character Psycho Krieg to discover the location of Vaulthalla, a mythical place scientist Patricia Tannis believes drives people insane.

Help both sides of Krieg's dual psyche process his traumatic memories by blasting his inner demons to bits, and try not to succumb to lunacy inside Krieg's fractured mindscapes as you:
  1. Journey through the many demented vistas of Krieg's psyche, where anything is possible and likely very violent;
  2. Experience the world as Krieg sees it, including his perception of fan-favorite characters like Maya – the light of his twisted life;
  3. Overcome a vast array of life-threatening manifestations that Krieg's mind conjures up;
  4. Expand Krieg's mind and Tannis' research in surreal side missions and Crew Challenges;
  5. Score powerful Legendary weapons and gear that will still work outside of Krieg's consciousness, according to Tannis;
  6. Acquire brain-busting cosmetic items, including Vault Hunter Heads and Skins.

Hollywood superstar Cate Blanchett has signed up to star in the movie adaption of Gearbox's Borderlands games. Ms. Blanchett  will be playing Lilith, a character who appeared in the very first game, with Eli Roth is directing the movie. He has previously worked with the actress in the film "The House With a Clock in Its Walls."

Earlier this year Full Circle reported that Lilith will be the main protagonist in the movie.

The movie will find Lilith in the Atlas Corporation space prison when the CEO gives her the chance to earn her freedom by rescuing his daughter, the foul-mouthed Tiny Tina, on the planet Pandora. The mission takes an unexpected turn when it becomes clear that the little girl is the key to unlocking a valuable alien vault that Atlas wants all for itself.

Joining her on the adventure is the previously mentioned Claptrap, Tina's bodyguard Krieg, and a group of vault hunters (it is unclear if they will be established game characters).

The film has been in development for a good few years and was announced way a back in 2015.

Source: Press release

Interview: How Foreclosed's RPG-shooter came from the dehumanising bureaucracy of the real world

Being part of a society is basically necessary for an individual to survive. We are all part of some kind of societal system which is impacted by where we are born, where we live, and where we work. What if that societal bond was taken away from an individual? Suddenly you are marked as an outcast, an exile, or in the case of Antab Studio's Foreclosed, become a foreclosure. We spoke to Antab Studio about Foreclosed, where the idea for the game came from, and what players can expect from this dystopian RPG in terms of gameplay.

TSA: Identity loss is a key theme of Foreclosed, and there has been mention of that being inspired by real-life experiences. Are you able to tell us what those experiences were, and how much of an impact they had on Foreclosed?

Antab: The concept of identity's foreclosure, and a dystopian society where bureaucracy is so distant from reality, summarised how we felt when we had a small legal misadventure with the first office we rented. It's a bit complicated to explain in detail, but basically, we got involved despite ourselves, in the foreclosure of the building where the office was located.

Having managed rental payments and papers in a very scrupulous way turned out to be a disadvantage for us because the former owner of the building used some technicalities to slow down and confuse the whole foreclosure procedure. Things were messed up to the point that it became too expensive/time-consuming for us to just stay there and make our voice heard in the court. Even though we were on the "right side", we faced a mechanical and dehumanized bureaucracy. We realized how the legal entity we consider to be "a person" is a total artifact, being completely disconnected from the real human being behind it.

While trying to deal with that situation, we had a discussion – and a couple of beers – on the building rooftop, and there we realized we had some interesting hints and concepts to think of for our new game.

Fun fact: we derived the names of many Foreclosed's characters form the real names of some of the people involved in our short legal misadventure.

TSA: Why did you want to make Foreclosed?

Antab: Many reasons, actually. We wanted to take something good out of our bad experience, but we also think that the contrast between the biological identity and the legal one, can be an interesting topic to think about. It is the actual person VS all the legal and economical data connected to him/her – a bunch of information that becomes more and more important for us, as our society becomes more and more globalized and digitalized. Also, making a third-person action/adventure game – a genre we personally appreciate – can be considered quite challenging for a team as small as we are, but we sincerely felt it was the right time to make the jump.

TSA: The comic book style is an interesting aesthetic choice. Was that something you had in mind from the beginning, or did the comic book look come later?

Antab: Thank you! We had chosen this specific direction in the early stage of pre-production, so yes, it was an idea we followed since the very beginning of the development. We believe that the graphic novel, a medium with such a great "authorial" taste, could be the right format to tell a story with some noir vibes built around legal technicalities. We got inspired by some sci-fi classics like Frank Miller's and Geof Darrow's Hard Boiled.

Another important reference for us was the first game in the Max Payne saga and its gorgeous comic book like cinematics. That kind of narration was so fascinating for us, that it inspired us to do something new by pushing forward the idea of being an action comic book hero. In Foreclosed we are using some typical comic books' features – such as having multiple panels displayed at the same time – as actual gameplay elements.

Having the feeling of playing inside a graphic novel is so important for us, we can easily say that without this media blending a title like Foreclosed couldn't be created.

TSA: Who is Evan Kapnos? How did you come up with the character?

Antab: Evan Kapnos is the "everyday man", a solitary and honest guy. We wanted to design a character who, apparently, has nothing really special, someone you wouldn't say to be a hero – but who can easily become one, when getting involved in something bigger than him. As Evan's story unfolds, we will find out that his implants "are not exactly compliant", being a curse and a blessing at the same time. There is something interesting for us when we think about an everyday person living a quiet yet choiceless routine, who's life is shocked by a negative event that is also the opportunity to take control of his/her life.

TSA: Can you tell us more about Foreclosed's world? What is the Block-chain?

Antab: Foreclosed is set in a not so far away future, in a Mediterranean cyberpunk context – as Italians, we liked the idea of a cyberpunk story happening close to home! In the dystopia of Foreclosed, every interaction is almost transactional: city services, purchasing of goods, shopping habits, personal chats, and so on, run on a huge, real-time updated Block-chain to which everyone is connected.

When a child is born, the government forces the installation of a neural implant that contains the legal and virtual identity of the new citizen inside the Block-chain. In this way, a person "exists" inside the society, and can benefit from its services. Of course, nothing of this comes for free; as the years go by, everyone develops a bigger and bigger debt with the State – called "identity debt" – due to installation and usage of the implants. When a person gets hired by a corporation, the employer buys his/her ID debt from the state, letting him/her "dilute" it over time.

It is easy to see how difficult it would be to settle the ID debt. It is actually impossible for the majority of the population. In Foreclosed's world, actually owning your own "identity" is just a privilege of a very few.

TSA: It looks like players will only have the one weapon, the Symbiotic pistol. Can players change or modify it?

Antab: Evan's Symbiotic gun was built to interact with an experimental firmware installed in his implants. Thanks to the powers of this piece of neural technology, it is possible to customize the shooting power of your weapon and equip a max of three different powers at the same time.

Imagine you need to shoot faster or to increase damage: all you have to do is to unlock the "machinegun" and/or the "explosive" skill.  You will also be able to use piercing and telekinetic bullets – that's right! Combining them all at the same time you could turn the Symbiotic pistol into a machinegun with target-seeking explosive bullets if you want. As it goes for all the implants' powers, you will need to be careful. Using Evan's fighting abilities will slowly heat his brain implants. If overheated, our hero is going to be stunned for a while, and won't be able to use his powers until the system cooldown is complete.

TSA: Evan has access to abilities to help him fight. How does he get those abilities?

Antab: Similar to how the Symbiotic pistol works, the experimental A.I. ruling Evan's implant is able to teach him incredible combat moves, learning and adapting to the dangers that our hero is going to face during the game.

Evan will find himself able to use telekinesis-like abilities, using them to lift, attract and throw certain objects, block enemies mid-air, and slam them to the floor. With Evan's enhanced brain implant it's also possible to remotely hack close devices to unlock doors, overcharge electric cabinets (and make them explode), or even fry the brain of unaware enemies.

TSA: Can you change modifications and abilities at any time, like in the middle of a fight, or are there only specific places this can be done?

Antab: You can change the equipped abilities at any time during fights (though we recommend checking your surroundings first) by opening the skills tree. Thanks to the Augmented Reality HUD projected directly into Evan's retinas, all the equipped powers will be selectable while aiming.

TSA: You say fans of Deus Ex, Cyberpunk, Liberated, Cloudpunk, and Ruiner should keep an eye on Foreclosed. Those are all very different games. What does Foreclosed have in common with them?

Antab: We see Foreclosed as a fully playable, action comic book, enriched by an original noir-ish story, a dynamic combat system with various "augmentations", and adrenaline-fuelled shooting sessions. Looking at the core gameplay, it comes naturally to spot influences from RPG-shooters games such as Deus Ex and Ruiner, but our entire story takes place inside a comic book, meaning that you will find yourself playing inside comic panels very often. That means that different camera angles (top-down, side-scrolling, etc.) will result in different gameplay and it can also happen that many comic panels displayed at the same time and require the player to perform different actions in different panels.

As you can see, even if the core mechanics are inspired by more classic action mechanics, the whole Foreclosed experience is played in a very different way and more blended with other genres.

TSA: Foreclosed will be releasing next year. Will it be coming to PS5 and Xbox Series X?

Antab: We love the idea of having Foreclosed on the next-gen consoles, but we don't have any information we can disclose at this stage. We will surely keep our fans and followers updated about consoles releases in the next months.

Thanks to Antab Studio for chatting with us. Keep an eye out on Foreclosed, which is currently heading to PC and consoles.

Creative SXFI Gamer Gaming Headset Review

Like an onion, and indeed ogres, there are many layers to a successful gaming headset. The packaging – the skin if we want to continue this particular food-based metaphor – is your gateway to the product, and even getting this wrong could hurt your chances on the high-street. Peel that wrapper back and you're into the flesh of the thing; build quality and comfort reign supreme, a tactile exchange you'll have with them every time you pick them up. Finally, you're onto the headset's reason for existing; serving sound – is this the flavour? – down into your ears.

Creative, known widely for their soundcards and DACs, are swiftly becoming master chefs of headset culinary arts, and with the Creative SXFI Gamer, they've just served up their finest dish.

As we all know, you can't go wrong with black, and the SXFI Gamer is an all-black gaming headset. They look, and feel, every inch a premium headset, and sit happily alongside the Sony and Bose in the maturity of their modern headphone craft. The headband is covered with sumptuous-feeling leatherette, and boasts the Creative logo embossed subtly across it, while each earpiece is constructed of sturdy, matte-black plastic, making way to incredibly soft, leatherette-covered memory foam earpads.

The SXFI Gamer is a wired headset, and you have the option of both a traditional 3.5mm connection, or a nice and modern USB-C one, while there's a USB-C to USB-A adaptor for those of us with big old chonky sockets. Beside these ports you'll find a number of different controls on the left earpiece, from your pre-requisite volume wheel and mic mute, to a toggle for the headset's SXFI processing and a button for turning the RGB lighting on and off.

Ah yes. RGB. The luminescent signal that you, and your headset, are ostensibly for G4MeRs. The way PC rigs are these days, you could probably live without yet another light source, and generally speaking I'll play around with a headset's different colours before turning the whole thing off.

The thing is, the SXFI Gamer looks pretty damn cool when it's all lit up, with each earpiece featuring a clock-like wheel that can shine with pretty much any colour the human mind can think of. Like hoverboards on water, it only works when you have power, so if you're rocking the 3.5mm connection you'll have to make peace with the darkness enveloping your head, but if you've gone for a flavour of USB, whether via PC, Mac, PS4 or Switch, then you can make a start on your Tron cosplay in style.

In the hand, there's a pleasing amount of heft to the SXFI Gamer, and at 320g, they are heavier than some of the other headsets in this class. That's offset by the excellent level of comfort that Creative have built into them though, with the weight distributed evenly across your head and ears. You just won't forget you're wearing them.

They look and feel fantastic, but what about the main thing you want them to do? At the most basic level the SXFI Gamer is a fantastic sounding headset. Plugged in via 3.5mm with no additional internal processing, the 50mm drivers perform wonders delivering audio to you, no matter the source material. There's a rewardingly wide soundstage, and the top end cuts through while the bass rumbles beneath. If you're looking to plug them into a PS4 or Xbox controller be assured that there are fewer better choices in terms of audio quality.

The SXFI Gamer is capable of quite a lot more than just that though, but you'll need a mobile phone and a PC or Mac to get the full effect. Via the SXFI app, available on iOS and Android, you can create your own personal audio map, which personalises the Gamer's output by taking pictures of your ears and head – get used to this, because it sounds like we might be doing the same for PS5 audio in the near future.

You can then head into the SXFI Control app on your desktop where it'll upload everything to the Gamer, tuning its already impressive audio a notch further. I've grown to enjoy, and seek out, audio enhancements that actually enhance the sound you're consuming. Dolby Atmos has been my go-to for a number of years when it comes to lifting music up a notch, or for good quality virtual surround sound. SXFI is, to my ears, a superior offering. Capable of standard stereo, as well as virtual 5.1 and 7.1, it broadens, lifts and expands whatever content you're taking in. From the new Biffy Clyro album to the streets of Marvel's Spider Man, if it's possible to feel "like you're there", the SXFI Gamer transports you a good portion of the way.

Besides this central SXFI setting, there's a Battle mode that enhances footsteps and gunfire, making it perfect for the Call of Duty specialist, as well as a full range of other EQ options. The small number of presets are made up for by being able to create your own. You can dig into the nitty-gritty of each frequency, altering the waveform, or just tweak the Bass and Treble settings until it sounds right. Across all of the platforms – mobile, PC and Mac – the SXFI software was a resounding success, offering rock solid performance and meaningful, moment to moment changes. It's all you could ask for.

With gaming as the SXFI Gamer's reason for existence, the microphone is the remaining integral ingredient – I've run out of onion parlance, so let's call it the accompanying garlic? – and Creative haven't left this one to chance. The menacingly titled CommanderMic also looks like it means business, with a rock solid positional arm, classic grille and built in pop-shield. It's clear as a bell, offering performance that's right up there with the Logitech G Pro X and it's good enough for recording or streaming, even if it won't quite match a dedicated microphone setup.

The SXFI Gamer is a fantastic piece of audio technology, and it's jumped straight to the top of our mid-range recommendations. If you were looking at other offerings in the same price bracket, the Turtle Beach Atlas Aero brings excellent audio and comfort to the table alongside wireless connectivity, but certainly can't match the SXFI Gamer's sleek design. The Steelseries Arctis 5 meanwhile also ticks a number of the same boxes, but its audio simply isn't in the same league.

Star Wars Battlefront II August 26th patch notes, read 'em here

Although the content drops have ended EA are still patching Star Wars Battlefront II and a small patch is dropping today with a bunch fixes for your favourite heroes and villains.

"Most notably of which, is the issue where it was possible to build up Darth Vader's damage reduction traits," say EA. "A fix has also been implemented which will stop General Grievous' Claw Rush ability hitting more than expected within a short space of time. We have also fixed an issue that would cause Darth Maul to become unable to block, after performing a Spin Attack."

Many of you should have Star Wars Battlefront II as it was one of the free games in June's PlayStation Plus selection. Here are the notes

Release Notes:

  • Fixed an issue that would allow players to build up Darth Vader's damage reduction traits.

  • Fixed an issue where General Grievous' Claw Rush attack could hit opponents multiple times in a short time.

  • Fixed an issue where Darth Maul would not be able to block after performing Spin Attack while blocking.

  • Fixed an issue where inaccurate VFX would play around Boba Fett's jetpack while he is ragdolled.

  • Fixed an issue where Boba Fett's jetpack icon would not be greyed out while his abilities are blocked.

  • Updated in-game EA Access and Origin Access logos with EA Play logos.

Deployment Times

  • Xbox One: Aug 26th, 2020, 7AM UTC

  • PS4: Aug 26th, 2020, 8AM UTC

  • PC: Aug 26th, 2020, 9AM UTC

Estimated Download Size

  • PC: 500-750mb

  • PS4: 500mb

  • Xbox One: 900mb

Following the release of the Scarif update at the end of April EA and DICE confirmed there would be no more content updates for Star Wars Battlefront 2, with the studio moving on to other projects. This put Star Wars: Battlefront 2 into its twilight phase, and that seems to have been further confirmed with the new event schedule that will be used from this week onward. The schedule is below but the gist is that on Mondays the Fast Spawn event will take place, on Wednesday a Double XP event, and on Fridays the Battle Point: Reinforcements event.

  • Mondays – Fast Spawn Event
    • Description: Spawn timers will be set to 1 sec long in assault modes for the duration of the event
    • Game Modes: Galactic Assault, Capital Supremacy, Starfighter Assault, Extraction and Strike
  • Wednesdays – Midweek Boost: Double XP
    • Description: Increased XP for faster ranking progression.
    • Game Modes: All modes
  • Fridays – Battle Point Event: Reinforcements
    • Description: Lower Battle Point costs for all reinforcements and increased numbers allowed at a time
    • Game Modes: Galactic Assault, Capital Supremacy, Extraction and Strike

Source: Reddit

Microsoft reveal a limited edition furry, unplayable, Xbox One X

Stand down Sony, back off Nintendo, Microsoft have just won the console wars until the end of time with the reveal of a furry, leopard print, Xbox One X. The one off design has been created to celebrate the launch of Wonder Woman 84 in cinemas this October.

The 'Barbara Minerva Xbox One X Console' has been inspired by Wonder Woman's archenemy, and features "an intricate snakeskin pattern and faux leopard fur for a truly wild appearance" along with silver spikes on the top and front of the console and a gold "Wonder Woman 1984" logo.

They have also created the less impressive 'Wonder Woman Lasso of Truth Xbox One X Console' which is, well, and orange Xbox with a bit of rope stuck to it.

You could win either console by liking or retweeting the Xbox sweepstakes tweet sometime between today, August 25th, through to September 17th.

A third console has also been created but this one will be auctioned off in aid of Together for Her, an initiative launched by the Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project, leading humanitarian organization CARE, and the Entertainment Industry Foundation to stand in solidarity with women and girls around the world deploying funds and supporting the global response against domestic violence during the time of COVID-19

The console is being auctioned as it's a little more special, the 'Wonder Woman Golden Armor Xbox One X Console' is covered with 24-carat gold leaves.

Now you might be thinking a gold plated console, or indeed a furry console, might cause a few heat issues and you would be right. "Please note, that all the Xbox is for display ONLY, not gameplay. Prize and the successful bidder will also get a standard Xbox One X," say Microsoft.

With the Xbox Series X just around the corner these will probably be the last custom Xbox One's to be made Microsoft.

Source: Xbox.com

The new Xbox Series X and Xbox One UI is going into testing for Insiders this week

Having revealed the new visual design for the unified cross-generation Xbox user interface and user experience earlier this month, Microsoft have now put this into public testing, announcing that it is being pushed out the Xbox Insiders on Xbox One starting today.

This will be a purely visual update to start with, following in the footsteps of the Fluid Design language that has already spread to Xbox PC and mobile apps over the last year, and the Microsoft Store on console. It changes the tile shape, fonts and focus indicator in particular, hoping to add greater clarity in addition to looking a little bit more stylish in general, but it will not be making dramatic changes to the Xbox UI. The idea is for the Xbox One and Xbox Series X to share an interface, and there's no point in Microsoft throwing out all of the work that they've done up until this point.

However, there are some UI changes coming, and Microsoft's continual evolution is continuing. The August 2020 update for the Xbox One is rolling out to all users now, one again revising the Guide overlay that appears when you press the Xbox button. Here's what it will look like in the test and once Series X is out.

There's some interesting changes here, continuing on from the revamp made in May. The tabs at the top are in the new order, but can be customised, but the button bar linking to the Store and Notifications are now below the list of recent games, which has itself been reduced from five items to four. All subtle little tweaks, but here's the big thing: there's now no big advert for Xbox Game Pass at the bottom. Yes, there's still a Game Pass button there, but its presence is greatly reduced.

Elsewhere, there's now the ability to adjust party member volumes independently, for those instances where you just don't have the heart to tell your mate to adjust his mic for the seventeenth time. There's also unification of how items in the Community pinned page will appear, and more little tweaks here and there.

Behind the scenes, there's also a pretty big change to how logging into your account works. With Xbox Game Pass meaning that you can play games on your Android phone, you could be booted out of a session by someone simply logging in on another console. Now you can log in on as many Xbox consoles and Xbox apps as you want for the purposes of using apps, streaming video, chatting with friends, checking achievements and more.

However, you can still only play a game with your account on one device at a time, to ensure progress, achievements and saves are up to date and synced (game sharing with multiple user accounts and a designated home console should still work, though). As someone with multiple consoles in the home and a tendency to play online co-op locally, this solves a little bit of faff from that experience.

Source: Xbox

Outriders Broadcast #3 reveals the Technomancer character class, co-op gameplay & more

Outriders Broadcas t#3  has been released, showing off new gameplay and details about People Can Fly's upcoming action RPG shooter. It also reveals the fourth and final class in the game, the Technomancer.

The Technomancer is the fourth and final class in the game. It's an unusual class in the game's backstory, with the Anomaly having led to a lot of the technology brought by humanity to Enoch being destroyed. However, the Technomancer has abilities linked directly to technology, letting you conjure up technological constructs like mines, turrets, missile launchers and miniguns. In general, the Technomancer is a long-ranged support class, great for sniping from afar.

As with previous broadcasts, the 25-minute tackles multiple areas, and so it also showed off the Technomancer in combination with the Devastator and Pyromancer classes. This came in the form of some straight up co-op gameplay as the trio assaulted an insurgent base. There were some real WWI vibes as they battled across a kind of no man's land and through trenches.

Speaking of the Devastator, the broadcast showed off more of this particular character type, a real frontline tank class. The Devastator has ground-shaking abilities which can act as interrupts, even against bosses, but the main thing keeping them in the thick of the action is that they gain health from nearby enemies that are slain, encouraging you to really keep on the front foot in a manner that's similar to the Trickster (though a bit different in how it works). You'll also want to keep punching things, with a key difference to other characters being that they inflict a bleeding status effect, which deals damage over time.

The Devastator has eight powers, of which three can be equipped at once, and this Broadcast showed off four of them.

  • Gravity Leap – Jump into the air and hover before slamming down on a targeted enemy, dealing area damage on nearby enemies. This is also an interrupt skill.
  • Reflect Bullets – Activate a shield in front of you, gathering bullets fired at you and then sending them flying back.
  • Impale – Make big spikes out of the ground to impale enemies (which only happens if lethal). This is also an interrupt, and can grant an armour bonus and health regen for nine seconds to allies.
  • Endless Mass – This creates an obelisk that sucks nearby enemies toward it. Great in combination with Gravity Leap and other players.

We spoke to People Can Fly at the start of July, chatting about the game's attempt to create a unique style amongst ostensibly similar looter shooter action RPGs. Head here for our full Outriders feature preview, where we said:

"It would be easy to dismiss Outriders out of hand, but to do so would be to overlook the ways it stands out from its fellow looter shooters. The greater emphasis on the RPG side of the game, with character builds that are more than just what you happen to be wearing and holding in your hands, and just having a self-contained story all sounds rather appealing to me. Throw in People Can Fly's game-making history, and Outriders is definitely a game to keep an eye on for later this year."

Outriders is coming to PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, PC and Google Stadia later this year.

Chinese Parents Nintendo Switch Review

Despite being one of the largest global markets for games right now, it's still rare to find games from China breaking out into the international market. Even a giant like Tencent is mostly know for having its fingers in the pies of Western studios like Epic and Riot.

So Chinese Parents is something of a phenomenon. This casual indie game became a bestseller when it launched on Steam back in 2018, despite only being available in the Chinese language. What I hadn't realised was that publisher Coconut Island Games did later release an English version, better yet, it's now available on the even more accessible Nintendo Switch, which makes it the perfect time to find out what the fuss is all about.

Chinese Parents is a child-raising life sim that has you determining the fate and fortune of a sprog right from the moment they're born. Once their gender is revealed and you can name them – I had a girl so named her after my niece, Faith – you'll shape their lives across 48 turns that takes them from infancy all the way to senior high school, culminating in the 'Gaokao', China's notorious equivalent to the SATs in the US or A-levels in the UK.

For each turn, shaping your kid is split into two main areas. There's the mind map t resembling a match-3 type mini-game where you tap different colour fragments on a board to raise your kid's stats – IQ, EQ, Constitution, Imagination, Memory. Fragments along with knowledge points that are required to unlock new studying activities in your kid's development.

Those resources then feed into your schedule for that turn, as you assign a set number of activities for your kid split between entertainment and studies. It soon becomes apparent that you need to balance these activities, as too much leisure time will erode your parents' satisfaction with you while studying non-stop will send your stress levels into overdrive.

Despite the game playing on the tiger parent stereotype, Chinese Parents is a fairly forgiving game, even if failure regularly comes during those mock exams, which you often feel inadequately equipped for. Its casual mobile visual novel aesthetics along with a pretty relaxed soundtrack makes it an accessible sim for anyone to play.  The mind map mini-game is especially simple and satisfying whether you purposely pick the stat boosts you need or pop fragments to better reveal the rest of the board, and even if you do flunk your exams, you'll still carry on progressing to the next stage of your kid's life. An expanding shadow on your kid can trigger a game over, but it's pretty hard for this to actually happen.

Your choices do get frankly overwhelming, with each turn unlocking more activities or goals to aim for. Naturally, some become obsolete over time – you're not still going to go sliding in the park or learning basic algebra as a senior high schooler – but with the limited slots on your schedule it's quickly apparent you can't become the class president, star jock, musical prodigy, literary genius and the popular kid at the same time.

Meanwhile, you'll also regularly encounter dozens of random events that have their own mini-games or mini-choices that can affect your personal development. A couple personal highlights are ones that are related to Chinese concepts, such as 'face', which kind of determines your sense of standing for both yourself and your parents, which in turn affects how easy it is to gain a favour from them later. This also leads to the hilarious 'Face Duels', a kind of turn-based RPG battle where your mum shows off your achievements to get one over on a rival relative and neighbour.

My favourite comes during a Chinese lunar new year when your aunt offers you a lucky red packet with money, during which you need to mash the button to push the envelope away so as to not make your parents 'lose face' by accepting it too eagerly, but not mash too much and actually reject your aunt's gift, therefore making her 'lose face'. It's both absurd and spot-on as I recall how my mum used to tell me not to accept money from my gran but then give in anyway, even though I obviously wanted the cash to fund my gaming habits.

Naturally, things get more interesting the older your kid gets. Once you're also balancing your studies with friendships, and potential romances, it's almost like you're playing the social elements of the Persona games. If there are issues, it's that the localisation is occasionally a bit rough around the edges – one mini-game revolving around a talent show contest had conditions that can only be described as a nonsensical word salad – while certain dialogue and scenarios also frequently get rehashed between different people.

I'm also not all that sure how meaningful my choices were in shaping my kid. While there are certain expectations placed on you by your parents, which you're given a limited number of turns to fulfil, not meeting them doesn't seem to penalise you significantly. Meanwhile, as I wanted Faith to pursue an ambition as a 'literary giant', this seemed to have no bearing on her flunking the gaokao, as the endgame summary still showed her somehow becoming a bestselling author anyway.

It's definitely something you can explore further as you can repeat the cycle after your first playthrough by getting married and having another kid, thereby passing your stats onto the next generation. Given how it only takes a few hours to get through 48 turns, those invested in the heartwarming charm of Chinese Parents will easily find themselves advancing generations down the line in the hopes of finding greater prosperity for their descendants.

Stadia Pro gets 6 more free games this September including Super Bomberman R Online and Hitman

With another month in the books, it's Google's chance once more to poke its Stadia service with a hefty stick of free games to go alongside it's Stadia Pro subscription. There's a massive total of six games joining the service, starting with the exclusive launch of Super Bomberman R Online, with Stadia set to be the only place you can play the massive multiplayer version of this classic game.

Also joining the service as an exclusive Stadia launch is indie game Gunsport, an action-packed two-on-two competitive challenge which has you taking on rival teams in a rapid-fire trick-shot competition. Besides that, Stadia owners can look forward to the arrival of Hitman, the beginning of the recent Assassination Trilogy, with the other two titles joining the service in coming months.

If that wasn't enough, there's also indie adventure Hello Neighbour, where you're tasked with solving a mystery while avoiding traps and an enemy who always seems to stay one step ahead of you, the continuing availability of Embr, the firefighting early access game, and the arrival in Stadia Pro of Metro Last Light Redux, which means you can now play the entire Metro series as part of your Pro subscription.

Hitman pulls together the episodic content released in 2016, with the full game garnering an excellent 8/10 from our very own Jim. The original Super Bomberman R was a launch title for the Nintendo Switch, though it's not the brightest star in the series, gathering up a 6/10 at the time. One of its biggest criticisms though was its place as a full price title, which isn't something that Stadia Pro owners will have to worry about.

Leaving the service on the 31st of August are KONA, Get Packed and GRID so Stadia Pro members should grab those now to add them to their ongoing catalogue.

It's another strong showing from Stadia Pro, with Google's streaming service slowly gathering some momentum. The only downside these days is that the Stadia interface could do with an overhaul as more and more games being added means there's a long strip of games to scroll through to get to everything in your catalogue.

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart first PS5 demo will be shown on Thursday at Gamescom

The first gameplay demo of Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart will be shown during Gamescom's Opening Night Live. You'll have to tune on on Thursday 27th August at 7PM BST to see it and dozens of other games.

Gamescom has gone all-digital for 2020 (for obvious reasons), but after years where it felt like Gamescom was just a tagalong behind E3, this has come at a time to help refocus news around a handful of key livestreams.

This will be the first time that Sony have shown off one of their next-gen titles since the PlayStation 5 reveal event back in June. Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart was a major talking point from that show, with Insomniac Games building their game concept around the capabilities of the PlayStation 5's SSD, enabling them to create a dimension hopping adventure that swaps between realities in just a few seconds (making for some pretty easily disguised loading screens thanks to their brevity).

You can already see a good portion of this gameplay from the announcement trailer below, but what will be shown at Gamescom will be a longer, uncut demo that's likely more indicative of the general gameplay experience.

The game is one of two that Insomniac have in the works for PS5, the other being Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales. That game is built on the foundations of the 2018 PS4 exclusive, looking to tell the story of the second person to don the Spider-Man costume, Miles Morales. There's been a number of questions asked over how big the game is, whether it's a true sequel or standalone expansion, if the original is being remastered, and it's left things decidedly murky. What we know for certain is that it's out this year alongside the PlayStation 5. Oh, and that it will have ray-traced puddles.

Between Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, it looks like Insomniac are doing a lot of heavy lifting for the start of the PlayStation 5 generation.

Source: Geoff Keighley

Will Amazon's New World be the next big MMO?

Having been dealt a blow by the launch (and subsequent un-launch) of Crucible earlier this year, Amazon Game Studios are still looking for their first breakout success. With another of their projects, Breakaway, having been cancelled, New World is the last of those three games Amazon announced way back in 2016. It's also by far the most promising.

This week we'll be getting a much closer look at this magic-infused, alternate history MMO with a slew of reveals planned. However, ahead of this preview week, we were able to go hands on with New World and one of its landmark features – the 50 versus 50 War mode.

Before we dive into that, let's backtrack just a little bit. For those who have absolutely no clue what New World is, it's an online role playing game for PC with action-heavy combat set on the isle of Aeternum. This is the colonialist 17th century, but not as you know it as settlers find themselves washed up on the perilous shores of a realm steeped in darkness and corruption.

Players will battle against the ancient guardians protecting Aternum as well as those evil denizens drawn to it with a lust for arcane power. Caught in the middle, you and your allies will venture out into the world while also forming Companies, building settlements, and helping them develop in a persistently changing world. A New World.

There are plenty of elements at work here that will be instantly familiar to those with a fondness for MMOs. Amazon Games (formerly Double Helix) is composed of veterans who have worked on hits such as Destiny, Diablo, EverQuest, and World of Warcraft, with their influence being felt in the design of New World.

The minute to minute gameplay is action focused and has you combining melee and ranged attacks with powerful spells, depending on how you've specced your character. Combat is purely weapon-based and you'll earn experience, skills, and abilities only by using what you have equipped.

The fighting is fun and active without the often overbearing clutter of most MMOs. You'll only have to memorise a handful of different powers for each weapon, but there's plenty of depth when it comes to selecting passive skills, then the crafting and upgrading of the weapons themselves.

From what we could gather, most of your time spent in New World will fluctuate between managing a settlement and venturing into the wider world of Aeternum. Players can band together, creating a Company, and then claim a territory they can build on. By interacting with NPCs and fulfilling town projects, these settlements will then grow to house bigger and better facilities such as advanced crafting and vendor stations.

Aeternum's boundaries won't remain static forever though. Rival Companies can besiege one another in a bid to expand their territory and this is where players can participate in Wars.

These epic siege battles pit 50 attackers against 50 defenders, the winner seizing or retaining a contested territory. These PvP conflicts will help shape Aerternum and shift some of the game's focus away from the pure PvE questing we associate with most MMOs.

Wars don't just happen, they're arranged ahead of time with participating players signing up before the siege is triggered and then being transported to a massive battlefield. Once preparations have been made, the attackers are unleashed and have thirty minutes to capture an initial cluster of control points before having to breach the castle walls and try to drive out the opposing faction.

Competitive modes in most MMO are pretty hard to crack. Having dabbled in dozens of these online games, this is one area I usually ignore as it can require a completely different mindset and an advanced knowledge of how all the classes and their skills work in a PvP environment. New World immediately feels more straightforward thanks to its focus on action, much more akin to a massive online shooter.

On the attacking side, we outfitted our character with three weapons which could be switched at any time including a musket, bow, and warhammer. In the initial skirmish we adopted a sniper role, using the musket's associated skills to fire supercharged shots, boost our firing accuracy, and even play dead when approached by ambushing defenders. As the battle raged on, we switched to the slower yet more versatile bow, before taking the warhammer in both hands to help our team mates smash down the castle walls.

As this was happening, players on both teams spent resources to deploy war machines and siege weapons such as repeating cannons, ballistae, and pitch cauldrons. Although the battle was manic, it wasn't too hard to tell which side was winning and the strategies at work. That said, with this being our first taste of New World's War mode, it was hard to get a sense of how these battles are meant to flow or how they'd look with a group of co-ordinated players on both sides as opposed to a gaggle of greenhorn press and influencers.

Amazon have a lot riding on New World and it's clear they aren't keen to rush this game out of the door any time soon. Originally planned for May 2020, then pushed back to August, it will now be launching early next year. From what we've played, there's a mix of experimental design choices at play here backed by the kind of polish you'd expect from a AAA game. The persistent game world and player-run settlements are what fascinate us most though we've yet to really gel with how New World plays. It's perhaps too limited in the combat options it gives you for individual weapons, relying on players to juggle every tool in their arsenal in order to keep battles (both PvP and PvE) feeling fresh and dynamic.

Monster Hunter World board game coming soon

Steamforged Games have given Monster Hunter fans a first proper look at their board game adaptation of the mega-popular Capcom RPG series.

For those who take their tabletop games seriously, Steamforged Games is a name that should be familiar to you. The Stockport based developer has worked to bring a number of AAA properties into the board game sphere including Horizon: Zero Dawn, Dark Souls, and Resident Evil. Like these games, Monster Hunter: World will have a crowdfunding campaign, Steamforged planning this for sometime in 2021.

This latest project sees them partnering with Capcom yet again for what sounds to be their most ambitious challenge to date. In an interview with Polygon they discussed their main ideas driving the Monster Hunter: World board game experience and how this differs from how they approached previous adaptations.

Where Dark Souls and Resident Evil have a linear, adventure-like structure to how they play, Monster Hunter is more open-ended. Players will group up and embark on campaigns that span multiple in-game days as they secure intel on their target, make preparations, then engage in epic showdowns.

Much like the Monster Hunter video game series there will be elements of time and resource management that put pressure on players as they face off against familiar foes. What's more interesting is how the game will encourage replayability, inviting hunters to embark on subsequent campaigns while carrying over their characters and gear.

Of course there will be multiple weapon types to choose from, each with their own associated cards and playstyles.

What excites us most is perhaps getting our hands on the Monster Hunter: World miniatures. Although not a hundred percent accurate in scale, the few examples we've seen show off two monsters (the Anjanath and Rathalos) and a hero character in brilliant detail.

Exactly what you'll get in the $100 box remains unclear for now though we're sure to hear more once the board game hits Kickstarter. So far, Steamforged are planning on four monsters and one environment/biome though we can see this being expanded. Hopefully the crowdfunding campaign will include stretch goals for additional components and miniatures to be added.

Source: Polygon

Report: A new Nintendo Switch with 4K support is in development for 2021

Two reports have come out in the last 24 hours claiming that Nintendo are gearing up for an enhanced Nintendo Switch version, due for release in early 2021.

The first report comes from Taipei newspaper Economic Daily News, who stated that the new Switch featuring upgraded interactivity and an improved display will enter production this year with a planned launch in Q1 2021. They cite sources in hardware manufacturers handling the Switch flash memory, Joy-Con controllers and more. This was followed by Bloomberg, who surprisingly claim that the updated console specs have yet to be finalised, but that it could have increased power that supports up to 4K output.

That the specs and targets have yet to be finalised is quite difficult to believe given the timescale on which console hardware takes place, so add a pinch of salt to this report. Certainly there will not be any major semi-custom chipset changes (which take years to produce), but it could be that Nintendo and their partners are seeing how the early production chips are holding up in terms of yield and how highly they can be clocked. Bear in mind that we're now just 7 months away from the end of Q1 2021, and the finalised hardware specs for both PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X were already known a distance before their Holiday 2020 release.

However, there have been long-standing reports and rumours of an upgraded and more powerful Nintendo Switch being in development. Speculation was initially that Nintendo would release both the Switch Lite and a Switch Pro in 2019, though in the end they only released one new model (and revised the internals of the original Switch design for better battery life). Naturally, analysts then shifted their expectations to 2020 and speculated that Nintendo would boost their hardware power to counter the launch of the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5. At the start of this year, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa stated quite unequivocally that there will not be a Switch Pro release in 2020.

But… he never said anything about 2021, did he?

Early 2021 would be around 4 years on from the original release of Nintendo's blockbusting hybrid console, with the company well known for producing mid-generation upgrades and console redesigns. This goes all the way back to the original Game Boy, with the Game Boy Color released as an enhanced version of the iconic handheld, and while the Game Boy Advance only shifted form factors multiple times, the Nintendo DS was superceded by the enhanced DSi, and the Nintendo 3DS by the New Nintendo 3DS. The company has been more conservative with their home consoles, but with the Nintendo Switch being a handheld hybrid console and based of a mobile tablet chipset, there's more than enough scope for an upgrade.

How they get there will be fascinating to see. The original Nintendo Switch was released in 2017 using the already two years old Tegra X1 chipset from Nvidia. Last year saw them work with Nvidia on a more efficient iteration of the chip on a smaller process to help them create the Nintendo Switch Lite and increase the battery life of the original design, but Nvidia's SoC designs have pivoted away from tablet computing toward machine learning and self-driving vehicles.

With the success of the Nintendo Switch reviving the company's financials, they could more reasonably invest more in customising the chipset, in stead of picking an off-the-shelf part like the Tegra X1. There's several advances that they could make use of, from jumping to TSMC's increasingly popular 7nm process for even greater power efficiency, to combining more modern ARM CPU cores with a more recent Nvidia GPU architecture. Of course, flawless backward compatibility to all the existing Nintendo Switch games would be a concern, but not an insurmountable problem. It's dependent on how far Nintendo want to go to lengthen their current generation of console.

Source: Economic Daily News, Bloomberg via VGC

Train Sim World 2 Review

Most people probably think of train simulators as a fairly niche genre within the gaming world, and although they are probably right, that isn't to say you have to be a train fanatic to enjoy them. Anyone who has played Dovetail Games' series train simulators will know that they are surprisingly accessible even to just the casual fan, as well as providing countless hours of fun for simulator enthusiasts.

Since its release in 2018, Train Sim World has grown and evolved with various DLC releases, allowing you to experience driving various trains through four different countries. TSW2 now builds upon that, providing an updated platform that features improvements to both the graphics and the physics, while laying the foundations for steam engines and multiplayer to be added in future.

The two new routes include Köln–Aachen in Germany (featuring both the high speed ICE 3M and regional Talent 2 train), and the London Underground's Bakerloo Line. Sand Patch Grade, which was the first route in TSW, also makes a return with a bit of a sprucing up. Each of the routes are highly detailed and, speaking as a Londoner, I can vouch that the Bakerloo Line is impressively accurate in its representation. Not only are the stations faithfully replicated (regular commuters will recognise the Sherlock Holmes tiles at Baker Street), but even above ground, I was able to recognise familiar buildings like the Royal Mail Depot near Stonebridge Park.

A few things can break the immersion though, such as the presence of passengers still on your train when you enter sidings after finishing the route, and the overall sounds are lacking, both in terms of volume and accuracy. As you're free to get out of your train and walk around the stations, the first thing you'll notice is that the platforms are sparsely populated in terms of passengers, although the adverts on the platforms themselves look true to life. Little things like the PA announcements or staff dispatching trains from the platform would make a nice touch if they were added. Exploring the stations by foot also enables you to complete optional objectives, such as placing route maps or refilling first aid kits.

The Köln–Aachen route offers a change of scene to the dark tunnels beneath London. Driving the route with the ICE 3M, which can easily reach speeds 250kmph, trees and buildings whip by. It's here that the external camera comes in handy to admire the views, as well as taking a closer look at the other railway traffic on the route. There's also the BR 442 Talent 2, which takes things a little slower than the ICE, and I found myself preferring scenarios with this train as there were more stations to stop at and keep me engaged.

Outside of the passenger routes, the revamped Sand Patch Grade offers players some freight action. While this was the first route released for PC in TSW, it's only now that console players are able to experience one of the steepest railroads in America. The new adhesion physics mean you have to keep a close eye on your speed, especially in wet or snowy conditions to avoid excessive wheel-slip. With this route, you have a choice of three locomotives to operate as well as plenty of wagons to shunt around Cumberland Yard. For me, the highlight is still unleashing my inner child and operating the railway turntable!

The trains and locomotives themselves have great amounts of detail, with plenty of switches to flick, dials to check, and computer screens to look through. While that might sound overwhelming, the tutorials and scenarios do a good job of teaching you which buttons to press to turn on the train and get yourself moving. From there, it's pretty easy to control the trains throttle and breaking, although it's still down to you to manage your speed and stop in the right place on the platforms. If you want to use the more advanced features of each train, such as the automatic signalling and safety systems (SIFA, PZB or LZB in the German trains), or perhaps some of the cruise control systems, you'll probably need to refer to the real world manuals found online, as none of the scenarios or tutorials currently take you those features.

When you do get going, the overhauled HUD reduces clutter, while still providing you with important information like your train's speed, the speed limit, as well as the status of the signal ahead. If you want to crank up the realism, you're free to turn off this information, but you'd better hope your route knowledge is up to scratch!

Other than the new routes, TSW2 also adds the Scenario Planner, which gives you the ability to create your own scenarios with whatever routes, trains and destinations you wish. Unfortunately, you can't share or use other player's scenarios, but Steam Workshop and console support would be a welcome addition in future. An 'Off The Rails' mode lets you step outside the realms of what is physically possible, such as running electric trains on a diesel route. This long-awaited feature will increase replayability, and is easy enough for anyone to use.

Speaking of easy to use, the new Livery Designer allows you to unleash your creativity, and then bring those designs to life on your routes in the game. Using various shapes and layers, you can create some quite complex designs for the locomotives, coaches and even freight wagons. I've already seen some people come up with some really stunning designs, while mine have looked decidedly garish!

For those of you who have built up a collection of DLCs from Train Sim World (or Train Sim World 2020 as it's currently called), you will be able to enjoy your existing routes and trains in TSW2 through the 'Preserved Collection'. Through the rest of 2020, Dovetail will be bringing across most, but not all of those routes to TSW2. It's a shame that they're not upgrading any of these routes, but it's still good to see and means players will get to use them in the scenario editor.

Sadly, I did encounter a number of bugs and issues with both the review build and public release. One particularly annoying bug resulted in the game crashing multiple times at the same point in a route and was only fixed by rolling back my GPU drivers… which then seemed to result in increased stuttering and FPS drops. I also encountered a bug when resuming a saved game that meant the emergency breaks were locked 'on', resulting in me having to restart the whole scenario and throwing almost an hour of play down the drain.

Netflix release first trailer for Dragon's Dogma anime

Netflix have dropped their first trailer for the upcoming anime adaptation of Capcom's 2012 action RPG, Dragon's Dogma.

The video streaming giant give us a two and a half minute look at the upcoming series, set to debut on Netflix next month.

Featuring an original story and characters, there are elements Dragon's Dogma players will recognise such as protagonist having his heart ripped out by a malevolent dragon.

Here's the official synopsis of the series via Netflix themselves:

After losing his home to a dragon, Ethan sets out to hunt it down once and for all. A pawn appears by his side and serves to protect his life. But the dangers that lie in wait for Ethan are beyond their imaginations, for when you fight a monster… you just may become one too.

Video game adaptations don't have the best of track records, it has to be said. However, Netflix deserves some leeway here following the success of its Castlevania anime which recently saw the launch of its third season.

Dragon's Dogma will premiere on September 17th. In the meantime, fans may be asking what Capcom have planned for the video game series.

Weaving together elements from other Capcom hits such as Devil May Cry and Monster Hunter (Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls series also being a notable influence) Dragon's Dogma was praised by critics at launch but has always been hidden away, on the fringes of every list of RPGs worth playing.

Launching on Xbox 360, PC, and PlayStation 3 in 2012, Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen followed the year after, making technical improvements while giving returning players a slab of new content to dive into. A complete version of the game later released on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. An MMO, Dragon's Dogma Online, was also released though only in Japan. Capcom officially shut the game's servers down last year.

Kandagawa Jet Girls Review

Kandagawa Jet Girls is the latest game from the studio that brought you the long-running series of games about scantily clad ninja girls – that's right, suckers, you've been tricked into reading a Senran Kagura review! Well, kind of. This time they've ditched the world of ninja school girls for water jetbike racing school girls, but in any ways, Kandagawa Jet Girls feels right at home in the lineage of Senran Kagura.

Both focus on multiple schools that are home to school girls with incredible talents in whatever their respective games are about, and Senran Kagura even previously dabbled in a similar setting with their water-gun focused third-person shooter spin-off Peach Beach Splash. Kandagawa Jet Girls, unfortunately, also shares an all too common trait with the Senran Kagura series; an impressive gameplay idea that is ultimately under baked and cracked at the seams.

Set in near-future Tokyo, the hottest sport around is high-tech jet races through unnaturally large urban waterway courses. Plenty of people across the country come from a storied lineage of jet racers, and protagonist Rin Namiki wants to make that kind of name for herself too. She teams up with reluctant classmate Misa Aoi to make that dream a reality, because jet-racing requires both a Jetter to pilot and a Shooter. Much like the double duty of Mario Kart: Double Dash, you'll be controlling both athletes during your races.

At first, this proposition seems a little daunting. Having to navigate highspeed waterways and jump pads while performing tricks and drifts to boost my speed seemed like enough to wrap my head around. The added layer of shooting is a lot to handle on top of that. The default gun shoots wherever the front of your jetbike points, but you can also hold down a button to let your driver automatically steer through oncoming pathways while you aim your shooter more precisely. It's something that, with enough practice and execution, can eventually become second nature to you as you blast away enemy shields to slow them down on your cruise into victory.

Unfortunately, the game rarely gave me the chance to earn that kind of experience or practice. Races throug most of the story mode in Kandagawa Jet Girls are mind-numbingly easy. I have plenty of experience with racing games, but I've never experienced AI lenient enough to let me beat them by nearly a full minute. Most races had me reaching first place and staying there within a dozen seconds, never having anyone to even fire a gun or special ability at for the duration of the race.

The opposite issue came to pass when I tried hopping into free races. There are three difficulty options here, but these options don't dictate race speed or AI skill. Instead, they simply equip the opponents with better jetbike upgrades that automatically make them go faster than you, meaning that until you unlock the same upgrades for your own bike, you simply will not be able to catch up to them in any way, shape, or form.

Another major issue with the gameplay is that it just does not feel great. You would expect futuristic jet-skis to give you a wild sense of speed and ultra-smooth control, but racing in Kandagawa Jet Girls feels like you're racing through pudding. Taking corners feels like you're moving at two miles per hour, and even activating boosters and going over jet pads barely adds to the sense of speed. Even when you're rocking those impressive end-game bike upgrades, it doesn't do much to make the races feel as swift or responsive as they should be.

I struggled to come to terms with how frustrating the gameplay of Kandagawa Jet Girls is, because everything else about the game is an absolute delight. Menus have gorgeous, sleek designs and every screen and races are accompanied by bright and energetic music that I can't get out of my head. Plus, I'm a sucker for customization, and Kandagawa Jet Girls has it in spades. You can customize the outfits, hairstyles, accessories and color coordination of every character, and even equip a bunch of skins, decals, and particle effects on your bikes.

Better yet, Kandagawa Jet Girls does something I've been clamoring for the Senran Kagura series to do for years and actually gives the characters varied, unique proportions. Rather than having the entire cast rock the same generic anime girl body with a different numerical value assigned to their chests, each character looks wholly unique. Even the Senran Kagura characters included as bonus racers are rocking new character models that look better than they ever have. Kandagawa Jet Girls has plenty of style, but it just doesn't balance out the rough, inconsistent and frustrating gameplay.

US Court injunction prevents Apple's Epic developer access block, but not Fortnite iOS App Store removal

The US courts have provided injunctive relief for Epic in their court case against Apple over direct payments in Fortnite on iOS, halting the termination of Epic's developer access to iOS and macOS for Unreal Engine, but not forcing Apple to allow Fortnite back onto the iOS App Store.

The ruling means that Unreal Engine will continue to be a viable platform for developers to use on iOS, but means that if Epic want Fortnite to return to the iOS App Store while this case remains in the courts, they will have to roll back the direct payment system that they implemented and resubmit it to Apple.

The Court quite plainly lay out what injunctive relief is for, as an "extraordinary and drastic remedy" intended to avoid irreparable harm from actions taken surrounding the court case. To succeed, the plaintiff (Epic in this case), must demonstrate four points:

  1. They are likely to succeed on the merits
  2. They are likely to suffer irreparable harm in the absence of preliminary relief
  3. The balance of equities tips in their favour
  4. An injunction is in the public interest

With regard to Fortnite's removal, the court says that "Epic Games has not yet demonstrated irreparable harm. The current predicament appears of its own making. […] Epic Games remains free to maintain its agreements with Apple in breach status as this litigation continues." By choosing to break the terms that they agreed to in order to list Fortnite on the iOS App Store in the first place, Epic have caused this situation themselves. Additionally, " Epic Games admits that the technology exists to "fix" the problem easily by deactivating the "hotfix." That Epic Games would prefer not to litigate in that context does not mean that "irreparable harm" exists."

Further more, the Court seem a bit confused over why the hell this all apparently so urgent right now. There is already a lawsuit against Apple in the Court – Donald Cameron, et. al. v. Apple Inc., filed in June 2019 – which contests that Apple's policies are monopolistic and anti-competitive:

The battle between Epic Games and Apple has apparently been brewing for some time. It is not clear why now became so urgent. The Cameron case which addresses the same issues has been pending for over a year, and yet, both Epic Games and Apple remain successful market players. If plaintiffs there, or here, prevail, monetary damages will be available and injunctive relief requiring a change in practice will likely be required.

However, with regard to removing all of Epic's developer access and effectively blocking the Unreal Engine from iOS going forward, the Court saw this differently. While Apple citied this was an "historical practice", the Court recognised that this would affect far more people and companies that just Apple and Epic – Microsoft's statement of support here will surely have helped.

The record shows potential significant damage to both the Unreal Engine platform itself, and to the gaming industry generally, including on both third-party developers and gamers. […] Epic Games and Apple are at liberty to litigate against each other, but their dispute should not create havoc to bystanders. Certainly, during the period of a temporary restraining order, the status quo in this regard should be maintained.

Not only this, but figuring out the damages for so many additional parties would be incredibly messy and difficult to do.

What's perhaps most interesting is that the Court also weighed up the likelihood of Epic's success in the full suit as part of its determination on whether to offer injunctive relief:

Epic Games moves this Court to allow it to access Apple's platform for free while it makes money on each purchase made on the same platform. While the Court anticipates experts will opine that Apple's 30 percent take is anti-competitive, the Court doubts that an expert would suggest a zero percent alternative. Not even Epic Games gives away its products for free.

Obviously this is not the final judgement or ruling, and different judges will have different opinions that can then be appealed and relitigated up to the highest courts in the land. It could be years before the case is settled – the aforementioned Cameron case hasn't really moved since last June – so now we just have to wait and see what Epic decide to do.

The company made a big splash with their calculated decision to add direct payments to Fortnite, fully aware that there would be immediate repercussions. That was part of their plan, of course, releasing an in-game trailer that slammed Apple and kicking off a hashtag #FreeFortnite to rile up their fans against the company.

So now it's up to Epic. Do they back down and let this go through the US courts, content that their marketing stunt will have raised awareness amongst Fortnite players that a new season is about to start? Or do they decide to keep their iOS and Google Play Store customers cut off from the new content, which would, as the Court says, be entirely their fault.

Source: Court Listener

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)