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This week on All Things Nintendo, we have a panel of four Game Informer editors to discuss The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. All four members – Brian Shea, Matt Miller, Kyle Hilliard, and Charles Harte – have beaten the game and are ready to break down all the biggest gameplay elements and story beats without fear of spoiling the experience. With that in mind, if you haven't finished The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, proceed with caution, as there are plentiful spoilers within this episode.
If you'd like to follow Brian on social media, you can do so on his Instagram @BrianPShea. You can follow Matt on Twitter: @MatthewRMiller. You can follow Kyle on Twitter: @KyleMHilliard. You can follow Charles on Twitter: @chuckduck365.
The All Things Nintendo podcast is a weekly show where we can celebrate, discuss, and break down all the latest games, news, and announcements from the industry's most recognizable name. Each week, Brian is joined by different guests to talk about what's happening in the world of Nintendo. Along the way, they'll share personal stories, uncover hidden gems in the eShop, and even look back on the classics we all grew up with. A new episode hits every Friday!
If you'd like to get in touch with the All Things Nintendo podcast, you can email AllThingsNintendo@GameInformer.com, messaging Brian on Instagram (@BrianPShea), or by joining the official Game Informer Discord server. You can do that by linking your Discord account to your Twitch account and subscribing to the Game Informer Twitch channel. From there, find the All Things Nintendo channel under "Community Spaces."
For Game Informer's other podcast, be sure to check out The Game Informer Show with host Alex Van Aken, which covers the weekly happenings of the video game industry!
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Thirsty Suitors will be released on PlayStation, Xbox (including Xbox Game Pass), Switch, and PC on November 2, it's been revealed.
This news comes by way of today's Annapurna Interactive Showcase, where developer Outerloop Games released a new trailer showing off more of what to expect in this RPG that's one part a skateboarding game, another part a cooking game, and always a game about confronting your exes and parents. It looks great – we quite enjoyed playing it recently during Summer Game Fest 2023 – and you can check it out for yourself below in the newest Thirsty Suitors trailer:
Stray was first revealed by publisher Annapurna Interactive and developer Blue Twelve years ago, at the same event where the PlayStation 5 was revealed. It finally hit PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 last year alongside a PC release, and in two months, it's finally coming to Xbox.
Stray will launch on Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One on August 10. This was revealed with a very cute new trailer starring the stray cat that gives the game its namesake, and you can check it out for yourself below:
We enjoyed Stray last year, giving it an 8 out of 10 in our review, which you can read here.
Are you going to play Stray on Xbox this August? Let us know in the comments below!
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More specifically, the upcoming sci-fi adventure game from Jeppe Carlsen, the lead gameplay designer of Playdead's Limbo and Inside, hits PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, and PC on September 29. I recently played Cocoon during Summer Game Fest 2023 and came away extremely impressed (read about why here). In the game, you control a small beetle-like creature as you traverse through a mysterious alien world using strange orbs that they themselves are worlds you can dive into.
Check out Cocoon in action in the trailer below:
As you can see, Cocoon continues to look great and now we know we don't have to wait too much longer to play it.
Cocoon hits PlayStation, Xbox (including a day one launch on Xbox Game Pass), Switch, and PC via Steam on September 29.
Are you diving into Cocoon this September? Let us know in the comments below!
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More specifically, the upcoming sci-fi adventure game from Jeppe Carlsen, the lead gameplay designer of Playdead's Limbo and Inside, hits PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, and PC on September 29. I recently played Cocoon during Summer Game Fest 2023 and came away extremely impressed (read about why here). In the game, you control a small beetle-like creature as you traverse through a mysterious alien world using strange orbs that they themselves are worlds you can dive into.
Check out Cocoon in action in the trailer below:
As you can see, Cocoon continues to look great and now we know we don't have to wait too much longer to play it.
Cocoon hits PlayStation, Xbox (including a day one launch on Xbox Game Pass), Switch, and PC via Steam on September 29.
Are you diving into Cocoon this September? Let us know in the comments below!
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BlizzCon is returning to Anaheim, California, this November and Blizzard has released new details about the event, including what to expect, pricing, and when tickets go on sale.
BlizzCon 2023 will take place on November 3 and 4 in the Anaheim Convention Center and tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. PST/1 p.m. ET on July 8. A second wave of tickets will go live at 10 a.m. PST/ 1 p.m. ET on July 22. General admission tickets cost $299, and that price includes a live event ticket, in-game goodies, the official BlizzCon backpack, and early access to the BlizzCon store.
There will also be a $799 Portal Pass ticket available as well. It includes all general admission perks, a separate registration and security line, exclusive Portal Pass lounge access (private concessions and viewing lounges, gameplay experiences, and more), and early entrance to the convention center.
“We are so excited to be welcoming everyone back to Anaheim for BlizzCon 2023,” BlizzCon executive producer April McKee writes in a press release. “This year, we are doubling down on the community experience for both in-person and virtual attendees, with beautiful, immersive activations throughout the Anaheim Convention Center, as well as providing all BlizzCon on-stage content for free via livestream for our global community.”
Blizzard says BlizzCon 2023 will bring attendees into Warcraft, Diablo, and Overwatch with immersive installations, art, and news on what’s next for these games.
All on-stage BlizzCon content will be free to view via livestreaming.
BlizzCon is returning to Anaheim, California, this November and Blizzard has released new details about the event, including what to expect, pricing, and when tickets go on sale.
BlizzCon 2023 will take place on November 3 and 4 in the Anaheim Convention Center and tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. PST/1 p.m. ET on July 8. A second wave of tickets will go live at 10 a.m. PST/ 1 p.m. ET on July 22. General admission tickets cost $299, and that price includes a live event ticket, in-game goodies, the official BlizzCon backpack, and early access to the BlizzCon store.
There will also be a $799 Portal Pass ticket available as well. It includes all general admission perks, a separate registration and security line, exclusive Portal Pass lounge access (private concessions and viewing lounges, gameplay experiences, and more), and early entrance to the convention center.
“We are so excited to be welcoming everyone back to Anaheim for BlizzCon 2023,” BlizzCon executive producer April McKee writes in a press release. “This year, we are doubling down on the community experience for both in-person and virtual attendees, with beautiful, immersive activations throughout the Anaheim Convention Center, as well as providing all BlizzCon on-stage content for free via livestream for our global community.”
Blizzard says BlizzCon 2023 will bring attendees into Warcraft, Diablo, and Overwatch with immersive installations, art, and news on what’s next for these games.
All on-stage BlizzCon content will be free to view via livestreaming.
While game delays have become commonplace, the opposite is extremely rare. Today, we learned Baldur's Gate 3 is somehow doing both at the same time. Initially planned for August 31, developer Larian Studios is advancing the PC release date to August 3 while delaying the PS5 version to September 6. According to the most recent community update, the change was done to prioritize release in order of platform readiness. More specifically, the team needed a little more time to get the PS5 version up to 60 frames per second.
"The PlayStation 5 version will be released roughly a week later than its originally scheduled date of August 31st," the community update reads. "Baldur’s Gate 3 is targeting 60 frames-per-second and we’re close to achieving that on the platform but need a bit more extra time. We don’t want to compromise on quality, and feel it would be a shame to downscale to 30fps or make other compromises to hit an arbitrary date."
Meanwhile, the PC version has moved up a whopping four weeks. Larian says, "This means the PC version of Baldur’s Gate 3 will be released at a time where you’ll have more time to play it," likely in reference to the release of Starfield, Bethesda's massive upcoming open-world RPG. By releasing their game over a month earlier, it's a little less likely that gamers would have to choose one or the other to devote their time to.
The community update also casts a light cantrip on some of the features coming to the full game, including new spells, the addition of feats, the Half-Orc and Dragonborn races, the monk class, and a huge line-up of new subclasses, which you can see listed below.
While game delays have become commonplace, the opposite is extremely rare. Today, we learned Baldur's Gate 3 is somehow doing both at the same time. Initially planned for August 31, developer Larian Studios is advancing the PC release date to August 3 while delaying the PS5 version to September 6. According to the most recent community update, the change was done to prioritize release in order of platform readiness. More specifically, the team needed a little more time to get the PS5 version up to 60 frames per second.
"The PlayStation 5 version will be released roughly a week later than its originally scheduled date of August 31st," the community update reads. "Baldur’s Gate 3 is targeting 60 frames-per-second and we’re close to achieving that on the platform but need a bit more extra time. We don’t want to compromise on quality, and feel it would be a shame to downscale to 30fps or make other compromises to hit an arbitrary date."
Meanwhile, the PC version has moved up a whopping four weeks. Larian says, "This means the PC version of Baldur’s Gate 3 will be released at a time where you’ll have more time to play it," likely in reference to the release of Starfield, Bethesda's massive upcoming open-world RPG. By releasing their game over a month earlier, it's a little less likely that gamers would have to choose one or the other to devote their time to.
The community update also casts a light cantrip on some of the features coming to the full game, including new spells, the addition of feats, the Half-Orc and Dragonborn races, the monk class, and a huge line-up of new subclasses, which you can see listed below.
Final Fantasy XVI hit PlayStation 5 exclusively last week on June 23, and less than a week later, Square Enix has announced it has shipped and digitally sold 3 million copies.
It’s a somewhat odd metric to parse out because copies shipped and sold aren’t the same. For example, a shipped copy might still be sitting on a game store shelf, while a digital copy sold is money made. Nonetheless, between physical shipped copies of FFXVI and digital versions purchased by players, Square Enix says it has reached 3 million copies sold.
We’re delighted to announce we’ve shipped and digitally sold 3 million copies of Final Fantasy XVI on PlayStation 5. Thank you for your support! #FF16pic.twitter.com/8YGfo1RXyV
— FINAL FANTASY XVI (@finalfantasyxvi) June 28, 2023
That’s a great launch for any game, especially one exclusive to PlayStation 5. However, its predecessor, Final Fantasy XV, which it Xbox One and PlayStation 4 in 2016, remains the series’ best-selling game at launch. When FFXV hit PlayStation and Xbox seven years ago, its day-one shipments and digital sales exceeded 5 million on launch day (thanks, Polygon). FFXVI has hit 3 million in roughly six days, it appears. FFXV also reached 6 million global sales faster than any other entry in the Final Fantasy franchise; now we wait to see if FFXVI beats that.
The previous new Final Fantasy launch (excluding this year’s pixel remaster collection) before FFXVI was last year’s Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, a spin-off title set in the world of the first Final Fantasy. Stranger of Paradise had the fourth lowest launch for a Final Fantasy spin-off game in Japan (thanks, Eurogamer), just above a few spin-off Wii titles, so today’s FFXVI numbers stand in stark and impressive contrast to that. Mind you, I love Stranger of Paradise – I even got the Platinum trophy for it on PlayStation 5 – but it’s clear players are more willing to show up for the mainline Final Fantasy games compared to the series spinoffs.
According to game sales analyst Benji-Sales, FFXVI’s launch numbers also come in a tad bit under 2020’s Final Fantasy VII Remake, which reached 3.5 million in three days.
Final Fantasy XVI hit PlayStation 5 exclusively last week on June 23, and less than a week later, Square Enix has announced it has shipped and digitally sold 3 million copies.
It’s a somewhat odd metric to parse out because copies shipped and sold aren’t the same. For example, a shipped copy might still be sitting on a game store shelf, while a digital copy sold is money made. Nonetheless, between physical shipped copies of FFXVI and digital versions purchased by players, Square Enix says it has reached 3 million copies sold.
We’re delighted to announce we’ve shipped and digitally sold 3 million copies of Final Fantasy XVI on PlayStation 5. Thank you for your support! #FF16pic.twitter.com/8YGfo1RXyV
— FINAL FANTASY XVI (@finalfantasyxvi) June 28, 2023
That’s a great launch for any game, especially one exclusive to PlayStation 5. However, its predecessor, Final Fantasy XV, which it Xbox One and PlayStation 4 in 2016, remains the series’ best-selling game at launch. When FFXV hit PlayStation and Xbox seven years ago, its day-one shipments and digital sales exceeded 5 million on launch day (thanks, Polygon). FFXVI has hit 3 million in roughly six days, it appears. FFXV also reached 6 million global sales faster than any other entry in the Final Fantasy franchise; now we wait to see if FFXVI beats that.
The previous new Final Fantasy launch (excluding this year’s pixel remaster collection) before FFXVI was last year’s Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, a spin-off title set in the world of the first Final Fantasy. Stranger of Paradise had the fourth lowest launch for a Final Fantasy spin-off game in Japan (thanks, Eurogamer), just above a few spin-off Wii titles, so today’s FFXVI numbers stand in stark and impressive contrast to that. Mind you, I love Stranger of Paradise – I even got the Platinum trophy for it on PlayStation 5 – but it’s clear players are more willing to show up for the mainline Final Fantasy games compared to the series spinoffs.
According to game sales analyst Benji-Sales, FFXVI’s launch numbers also come in a tad bit under 2020’s Final Fantasy VII Remake, which reached 3.5 million in three days.
Theorycraft Games has revealed the first look at its debut unannounced title, Project Loki, and it’s a competitive, team-based PvP game that appears to blend the MOBA genre with hero-based combat action and more.
Theorycraft is a relatively new studio made up of developers who, collectively, have worked on franchises like League of Legends, Valorant, Apex Legends, Overwatch, Destiny, and Halo. While the team has publicly talked about Project Loki (not the official title), today’s new trailer marks the first time the studio has shown it in action.
Check out roughly 3 minutes of Project Loki gameplay below:
“As players and developers, we feel like it’s been a minute since there’s been something truly new and fun to play with your friends,” Theorycraft CEO Joe Tung writes in a press release. “To make Project Loki, we took our collective experiences working on some of the biggest team-based PvP games like League, Valorant, Apex, and Overwatch, and have been building with a group of hardcore playtesters out the gate.
“Now Project Loki has evolved into something fresh and unlike anything we’ve played so far, and we’re ready to take the next step. It might seem early, but we became independent to take a big swing on behalf of players; to do that means involving them as soon as possible, showing our work, and building a community that we’ll listen to across every stage of development.”
As you can see in the trailer above, Project Loki takes inspiration from the MOBA genre – unsurprising, given the team’s experience on League of Legends – as well as hero-based combat games like Overwatch and more. Theorycraft describes a session of Project Loki like this: “Players will assemble a squad of heroes, outplay other teams in sprawling, free-flowing battles, run the edge of a huge world in the sky, and dream up crazy strategies in a massive combat sandbox.”
Players looking to play the game can potentially do so starting tomorrow because a PC playtest will run on June 29 and June 30. The team stresses that despite being playable, Project Loki is still a work-in-progress game, meaning "meta-progression, competitive features, hero concepts, environmental design, and final art are all a work-in-progress."
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Theorycraft Games has revealed the first look at its debut unannounced title, Project Loki, and it’s a competitive, team-based PvP game that appears to blend the MOBA genre with hero-based combat action and more.
Theorycraft is a relatively new studio made up of developers who, collectively, have worked on franchises like League of Legends, Valorant, Apex Legends, Overwatch, Destiny, and Halo. While the team has publicly talked about Project Loki (not the official title), today’s new trailer marks the first time the studio has shown it in action.
Check out roughly 3 minutes of Project Loki gameplay below:
“As players and developers, we feel like it’s been a minute since there’s been something truly new and fun to play with your friends,” Theorycraft CEO Joe Tung writes in a press release. “To make Project Loki, we took our collective experiences working on some of the biggest team-based PvP games like League, Valorant, Apex, and Overwatch, and have been building with a group of hardcore playtesters out the gate.
“Now Project Loki has evolved into something fresh and unlike anything we’ve played so far, and we’re ready to take the next step. It might seem early, but we became independent to take a big swing on behalf of players; to do that means involving them as soon as possible, showing our work, and building a community that we’ll listen to across every stage of development.”
As you can see in the trailer above, Project Loki takes inspiration from the MOBA genre – unsurprising, given the team’s experience on League of Legends – as well as hero-based combat games like Overwatch and more. Theorycraft describes a session of Project Loki like this: “Players will assemble a squad of heroes, outplay other teams in sprawling, free-flowing battles, run the edge of a huge world in the sky, and dream up crazy strategies in a massive combat sandbox.”
Players looking to play the game can potentially do so starting tomorrow because a PC playtest will run on June 29 and June 30. The team stresses that despite being playable, Project Loki is still a work-in-progress game, meaning "meta-progression, competitive features, hero concepts, environmental design, and final art are all a work-in-progress."
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Reviewed on: PlayStation 5 Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, PC Publisher: Xseed, Marvelous Games Developer: Marvelous Inc. Release: Rating: Everyone
Remakes and remasters are more common than ever in 2023. What's most interesting is seeing how these new versions handle the issue of completely rebuilding versus simply making modern visual improvements. Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life is a remake of Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life that straddles the line between these two philosophies fairly evenly but still delivers an outdated experience in various aspects.
Releasing on modern consoles, Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life initially looks like nothing more than an updated re-skin on the surface. However, some significant changes have made it more inclusive for players. A Wonderful Life establishes each player as a young person who has inherited a farm from their father in a small town called Forgotten Valley. Before claiming your inheritance, you must name yourself and decide your appearance.
The customization suite is where the updated version exceeds its predecessor. Players can customize their avatars with gender-inclusive pronouns, body, and fashion options. Beyond that, none of the clothing or hair options are gendered either. You can combine any body type with any hairstyle or outfit you want. Once you settle on your name, look, and pronouns, you're ready to head to Forgotten Valley. But note that you can't change your pronouns after the selection screen, so be sure of your decision before you depart.
In what has become a staple of the farming sim genre, your character packs up and moves from the big city to the farm to live a quieter life. When you arrive, an old friend of your father gives you a tour of the farm and provides you with notes that serve as the game's tutorial. These notes are extremely useful in the early game, offering guidance when questions come up without forcing players to sit through a restrictive tutorial sequence.
As you'd expect, you grow crops and raise animals whose products you can sell for profit. There are the usual four seasons in A Wonderful Life, and each lasts 10 in-game days. These days last 24 real-life minutes, which doesn't sound long but can start to drag the longer you play. Ideally, your daily loop includes tending your crops and animals, visiting the forest spirits to see if they have any new recipes for you, helping to dig at the archaeology site, fishing, foraging, cooking, and chatting with your neighbors around Forgotten Valley.
Getting to know the other residents of your small town is key, as the game insists that you must get married to one of the local singles by the end of your first year there. I appreciate that A Wonderful Life removes the gender-locked nature of the original game's romances, meaning players can marry any eligible single in Forgotten Valley, opening the door for queer romances.
That said, these relationships are disappointingly shallow. Since your courtship is barely a year long, you don't get much time to build an attachment to your future spouse. There are relationships already ongoing between some of the villagers when you arrive, which are then never really addressed if you decide to marry one of them. This takes away a potentially interesting element of small-town drama from the game and is also unsatisfying from a storytelling perspective.
In addition, in-game spouses don't have much that's novel or interesting to say once you tie the knot. After marrying Cecelia, she largely stayed in our house and repeated the same line about learning new things about housework over and over again. My young child had more unique dialogue for me than she did outside of cutscenes.
Unfortunately, A Wonderful Life's mechanics feel similarly shallow during your day-to-day loop. While the pronouns, customization, romances, and visuals have been updated, your daily life in the game hasn't received the same treatment. Doing your daily chores doesn't take long, especially once you start upgrading your tools. Chatting with the forest spirits is also a quick errand. Digging for artifacts can take as long as you want, but the process is slow and monotonous. The game encourages you to chat with everyone in town to help build your relationships with them, but their dialogue is often repetitive, and it takes almost no time to give them gifts from your inventory. Even fishing and foraging can be done while you do other tasks around Forgotten Valley.
When the original version of this game came out, I'm sure this seemed like plenty to do. But in the wake of games like Stardew Valley, this level of activity is underwhelming. It's easy to find yourself going to bed early to advance the calendar instead of utilizing every waking hour to maximize what you can get done. In theory, some of this time should also be devoted to cooking, but I often only used my kitchen when I really needed to. Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life has a Fullness meter, but it doesn't decrease quickly. I only really paid attention to it when my character gave me the hungry icon, which usually seems to trigger when the bar is about one-third full.
This meter is somewhat emblematic of my overall experience of this game. Ideas that were once novel are outdated or uninteresting by today’s standards. While Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life is a welcome update to a classic farm sim, stripping away nostalgic fondness leaves you with an experience that feels lacking in the genre's modern landscape.
I've been excited to play Final Fantasy XVI for ages, but after hearing about Game of Thrones' influence on the game, I was afraid I'd be overwhelmed by dense fantasy lore. While worldbuilding can be as simple as creating fictional characters and cities, some creators dive in deeply, crafting pantheons of gods, hundreds of years of wars and conflict, and even entire languages. While it makes the world more believable, it can be incredibly disorienting for an audience to be thrust headfirst into a sea of unfamiliar proper nouns, especially before they have a chance to get to know the world's characters. Lucky for me, the developers behind Final Fantasy XVI completely anticipated this and introduced a solution: the Active Time Lore mechanic.
During any cutscene in FFXVI, you can hold the touchpad on the DualSense controller to conjure up a glossary of definitions and character bios relevant to that moment in the story. It's perfect for when you forget a character's name or want to refresh your memory of which nation is which. And because it only discusses terms relevant to that moment in the cutscene, it's approachable and digestible, limiting itself to a handful of definitions at any given time.
When activated outside of a cutscene, active time lore will tell you relevant details about your location and place in the story.
Active time lore has also allowed me to remember certain details about FFXVI's world of Valisthea by associating them with images. Even though I have no hearing issues, I always have subtitles on because I can process names and places much more easily if I can tell how they're spelled. Active Time Lore takes this one step further by letting you take a look at the fantasy term in question.
For example, country names are presented with an image of their flag, so I've been able to quickly make the association between a few nations and their respective flags' primary colors, even though I'm only a few hours in. And characters are always presented with an image of their face, so people bad at associating names with faces might have an easier time remembering who's who.
The Active Time Lore mechanic would also be useful if you took an extended break from the game. Whether you bounced off or just got busy with other things in your life, whenever you come back, you can refresh your memory on important characters and events much more quickly than previous Final Fantasy titles.
To go even more in-depth and learn about story elements you might have missed during a cutscene, you can visit Harpocrates and his Thousand Tomes in Cid's Hideaway, a hub found early in the game. As you visit him throughout your adventure, you can tell Harpocrates about the things you've seen and the people you've encountered, and he'll update his archives accordingly. Not only does the Thousand Tomes allow you to review any Active Time Lore entry, but it also provides quick suggestions for other entries you might want to brush up on. For example, the entry for "Eikon" might link you to "Dominant," "Magic," and "Crystal."
In theory, you could just Google all the fantasy nouns you need a refresher on, but I'm glad to avoid that. For one, this is just way more convenient. Even if it would only take a few seconds to whip out my phone, I'd much rather have it at the tap of a button, especially when I don't have to guess how to spell made-up words. The internet is also rife with spoilers. Even something as innocuous as typing a character's name into a search engine will often immediately fill in suggestions spoiling death scenes or plot twists. Active Time Lore updates entries as you progress through the story, sometimes even creating entries for characters you don't know the name of yet.
This Active Time Lore system is also, crucially, a completely optional mechanic. If you enjoy being dunked headfirst into Valisthea's pool of countries and characters, more power to you! You never need to use Active Time Lore, but it's always an option just in case you forget which country is a Duchy, which is a Republic, and which is a Kingdom. And while the story is fully comprehensible otherwise, this gives the writing team a little more room to tell the story without massive dumps of exposition.
While it might not be a big deal for some, Active Time Lore is one of my favorite things about Final Fantasy 16 and a great example of why I love experiencing stories through video games. It takes advantage of the interactive nature of the medium to deepen my understanding of the story; it's not just a story I enjoy that also takes place in a video game, but a story I enjoy because it takes place in a video game. Make no mistake – I've enjoyed Final Fantasy 16 a lot more specifically because of this mechanic. Knowing every character’s name and their allegiances really helps me skip past the lore barrier I was afraid of and properly get invested in the plot.
Now I just need to figure out how to convince From Software to add this mechanic to Elden Ring…
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Publisher Dear Villagers and developer Fallen Leaf Studios have released a new trailer on IGN for Fort Solis, the upcoming sci-fi horror game starring Roger Clark and Troy Baker.
This trailer starts with Baker discussing how he came to be involved with Fort Solis and why he’s excited about the game before he reveals it hits PlayStation 5 and PC on August 22. The trailer then cuts to new footage of the game, which you can check out for yourself below:
As you can see, Baker says he joined Fort Solis because it allowed him to work alongside Clark (whom you might recognize as Arthur Morgan from Red Dead Redemption 2) and because he liked the story as well. As for the new Fort Solis footage, it shows more of the spooky Martian horror featured in the game. In it, Clark’s character, Jack Leary, tries to survive “through one long and terrifying night on Mars.” Leary appears to be guided, in some way, by Baker’s Wyatt Taylor and Julia Brown’s character, Jessica Appleton.
Fort Solis hits PlayStation 5 and PC on August 22.
Mortal Kombat 1 represents a bloody new era for the long-running franchise, and editors Marcus Stewart and Brian Shea have gone hands-on with it, most recently in this past weekend's online stress test. In this video, we take a look at the gameplay captured from this period that provides good looks at the movements and fatalities of the test's four available fighters, Liu Kang, Sub-Zero, Kitana, and Kenshi. You'll also get to watch those kombatants team up with three Kameo fighters: Kano, Sonya, and Jax.
Publisher Humble Games and developer Crema have revealed Temtem Showdown, a new standalone battle-focused game, and it's out right now.
This surprise reveal comes less than a year after the full 1.0 release of Temtem, the game that Showdown is based on. Similar to Pokemon Showdown, Temtem Showdown is all about battling. It's also free to everyone.
"Temtem Showdown takes the best Temtem competitive action and places it within immediate reach for everyone," a press release reads. "Get to know the colorful critters from the massively multiplayer creature-collection adventure, build your team in seconds, and dash into battle to test it out against other players and their teams – or carefully curate a plan of action to overpower your opponents."
Unlike Temtem, which is a multiplayer Pokemon-like game where you catch and train Temtem to use in 2 vs. 2 battles, Showdown will let players build a team from scratch right from the jump. And then you can hop right into a battle, without needing to worry about their level like you might in the base game. You can play against other players both casually and competitively, and the latter will feature a ranked system and a ladder to climb up as you play.
Crema says Showdown will receive regular balance patches to keep the meta fair, and new Seasons will bring additional content and changes as well.
Between the Super Mario Bros. Movie and several announcements during last week's Nintendo Direct, Nintendo's mascot is having a great 2023. Carrying on the Mario momentum, Oreo announced a limited-edition cookie collab with the iconic Nintendo franchise.
The cookies feature 16 unique embossments starring characters like Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Goomba, and Bowser Jr., as well as power-ups like Super Stars and Fire Flowers. Packs will be filled at random. Oreo is also holding a social media event where they're asking those who buy the cookies to stack as many of the hero-embossed cookies on the rim of a glass of milk without the cookies falling into the milk and share the video on social media in a concerted effort to save Princess Peach from Bowser's Castle.
"We hope to unite cookie lovers and Super Mario enthusiasts alike with this playful mission, inspired by a storyline fans know all too well," Oreo senior brand manager Vishnu Nair said in a press release. "We may even reveal a surprise as a thank you to those who successfully defeat Bowser and save the kingdom... Fans will have to wait and see!"
You can check out a fun musical trailer for the collaboration below.
The Oreo x Super Mario cookies will begin rolling out to retailers nationwide starting July 10, but will only be available for a limited time. For more recent Mario news, be sure to check out our coverage of Super Mario Bros. Wonder, the upcoming 2D game that was announced during last week's Nintendo Direct.
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Publisher Humble Games and developer Crema have revealed Temtem Showdown, a new standalone battle-focused game, and it's out right now.
This surprise reveal comes less than a year after the full 1.0 release of Temtem, the game that Showdown is based on. Similar to Pokemon Showdown, Temtem Showdown is all about battling. It's also free to everyone.
"Temtem Showdown takes the best Temtem competitive action and places it within immediate reach for everyone," a press release reads. "Get to know the colorful critters from the massively multiplayer creature-collection adventure, build your team in seconds, and dash into battle to test it out against other players and their teams – or carefully curate a plan of action to overpower your opponents."
Unlike Temtem, which is a multiplayer Pokemon-like game where you catch and train Temtem to use in 2 vs. 2 battles, Showdown will let players build a team from scratch right from the jump. And then you can hop right into a battle, without needing to worry about their level like you might in the base game. You can play against other players both casually and competitively, and the latter will feature a ranked system and a ladder to climb up as you play.
Crema says Showdown will receive regular balance patches to keep the meta fair, and new Seasons will bring additional content and changes as well.
Between the Super Mario Bros. Movie and several announcements during last week's Nintendo Direct, Nintendo's mascot is having a great 2023. Carrying on the Mario momentum, Oreo announced a limited-edition cookie collab with the iconic Nintendo franchise.
The cookies feature 16 unique embossments starring characters like Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Goomba, and Bowser Jr., as well as power-ups like Super Stars and Fire Flowers. Packs will be filled at random. Oreo is also holding a social media event where they're asking those who buy the cookies to stack as many of the hero-embossed cookies on the rim of a glass of milk without the cookies falling into the milk and share the video on social media in a concerted effort to save Princess Peach from Bowser's Castle.
"We hope to unite cookie lovers and Super Mario enthusiasts alike with this playful mission, inspired by a storyline fans know all too well," Oreo senior brand manager Vishnu Nair said in a press release. "We may even reveal a surprise as a thank you to those who successfully defeat Bowser and save the kingdom... Fans will have to wait and see!"
You can check out a fun musical trailer for the collaboration below.
The Oreo x Super Mario cookies will begin rolling out to retailers nationwide starting July 10, but will only be available for a limited time. For more recent Mario news, be sure to check out our coverage of Super Mario Bros. Wonder, the upcoming 2D game that was announced during last week's Nintendo Direct.
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Physical editions of Starfield will not include a disc, according to a now-deleted message from the Bethesda Support Twitter account.
Yesterday, a user asked the account if the Physical standard edition of the game on Xbox Series X would include a disc. The account responded, “All physical editions include a code for the chosen platform. There are no physical discs.” This tweet, posted yesterday, June 25, has since been deleted, and Bethesda has yet to comment on it, but one of our editors captured a screenshot of the message, posted below.
However, according to Eurogamer, fans have uncovered a contradictory message from the Bethesda Spanish account posted on June 13, stating the Standard Edition includes a disc while the $300 Constellation Edition only has a game code engraved on one of the collector’s items. A screenshot of this message is posted below, along with a rough translation.
Hello partners! Depends on the edition. For example, the standard one has a disc, while the Constellation Edition has a code engraved on a collector's item, which you can see in the images.
We’ve contacted Bethesda for clarification and will update this story if we hear back.
For more on Starfield, you can watch its latest trailer and read about its bevy of features revealed during its dedicated presentation following the Xbox Games Showcase here.
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