This coming January, Naughty Dog co-president and head of creative Neil Druckmann will be honored by the New York Video Game Critics Circle with the Andrew Yoon Legend Award at the 13th annual New York Game Awards.
The award is intended to recognize those “who have propelled the gaming world forward, celebrating their profound impact on an industry that continues to captivate and connect people worldwide.” Past winners have included Xbox head Phil Spencer, Double Fine founder Tim Schafer, Death Stranding creator Hideo Kojima, former Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aimé, and others.
Druckmann’s recognition comes after 20 years in the industry, all of which he has spent at Naughty Dog. He began as a programming intern in 2004 working on Jak 3, and went on to become known for his work on the Uncharted franchise and most recently creative leadership on The Last of Us, eventually becoming co-president of the studio.
“Neil Druckmann’s story is an inspirational one of self-determinism,” said NYVGCC president Harold Goldberg. “He worked his way from an internship all the way up to being a co-president at Naughty Dog. His skill for creating titles that consistently redefine cinematic gameplay and human-centric storytelling not only deserves celebrating, but his efforts to create characters that represent diverse backgrounds and perspectives have enriched content in AAA games. His brilliant work has been lauded with multiple New York Game Awards over the year, and we are honored to recognize him as this year’s Andrew Yoon Legend Award winner.”
Arma Reforger, the latest game in the long-running milsim series, has been in Early Access since May last year. No longer. It’s 1.0 update arrived today, adding helicopters, a totally revised supply system, and as close to fast travel as the relentlessly realistic shooter will allow.
Hey, Washers! Jess from FuturLab here to give you the low-down on PowerWash Simulator’s heaviest collaboration yet — the Back to the Future Special Pack! We’ve teamed up with the folks at Universal Games and Digital Platforms to transport you back in time onto various sets from the iconic “Back to the Future” trilogy from Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment.
And, when given the chance to visit the past, you do what any person with a superior knowledge of future technology would do… powerwash! Well, introducing the world to rock ‘n’ roll was already taken!
As well as saving the Hill Valley Clocktower (from muck, this time), you will also get to spray down Doc Brown’s Van, the Time Machine, the Holomax Theater and Doc’s Time Train. Plus, you can collect 10 electrifying new achievements.
This Special Pack features some of our coolest animations to date, so to learn more about how we brought the timelessness of “Back to the Future” to life, I was joined by FuturLab Junior Animator Alannah Meek to share some of her secrets here with you all.
Bringing the Back to the FutureSpecial Pack to Life
Environmental storytelling has always been a core aspect of PowerWash Simulator. From early on, clues were scattered like breadcrumbs throughout each map, adding to the narrative and breathing life into the setting.
The Back to the FutureSpecial Pack represents the next evolution of animation in PowerWash Simulator. Fittingly, alongside this celebration of cinema, we’re bringing you our most cinematic animations yet. From ticking cogs to flying trains, this Special Pack has it all.
“The Back to the FutureSpecial Pack has more animation than its predecessors,” explains Meek. “Being able to interact with and wash all these moving parts brings so much more life and interactivity to the pack, allowing you to experience the world of Back to the Future to a greater extent and appreciate the finer details from the films,”
Creating the Hill Valley Clocktower
The Hill Valley Clocktower played a pivotal role in the first “Back to the Future” movie. You’ll find it nestled in a fully explorable Hill Valley Town Square. Although 30 years has passed since the place was struck by lightning, it sure looks like it still needs some major TLC!
“Animating the clock mechanism involved a lot of research into how clock towers work and finding reference videos of the moving parts as the room in the film is only shown for a short time and dimly lit,” says Meek. “I also had to work closely with the artist to make sure the models would be functional and understand how all the individual pieces interact with one another. We made sure that the clock tower mechanism is broken as the clock tower has been struck by lightning, so eagle-eyed players will notice the cogs attached to the hands on the clock are failing to interact properly.”
Building The Holomax Theater
In “Back to the Future Part II,” the Holomax Theater captured the imaginations of viewers as a futuristic way to sink your teeth into a movie. Players can put themselves in Marty McFly’s sneakers to get up close and really personal with the holographic shark from the fictional “Jaws 19!” If you are looking for how to trigger this interaction, we’ll leave you with this timeless clue: X marks the spot.
“It was a unique challenge to imitate CGI from the 1980s with pixelated textures and interesting quirks in the animation! I studied the clip from the film and partnered with the team at Universal Games and Digital Platforms very closely to try to get the model and animation of the shark to feel as close as possible to the film,” recalls Meek.
Constructing Doc’s Time Train
Who can forget Doc Brown’s explosive entrance on a time travelling train in “Back to the Future Part III?” Players can experience the epic take-off of Doc’s Time Train in the new Special Pack, just remember: the future is what you make it, so make it a clean one!
“My personal favourite animation in this special pack is the animation on the Doc’s Time Train,” Meek remarks, “Working out how all the parts of the train work from film footage was a real challenge, but I love the end result and being able to wash the train while all the parts are moving and watching it fly away is a great end to the level.”
You might be wondering: “Why aren’t they talking about the Time Machine?!” Well, we wanted you to experience that magical moment for yourselves! Once you reach 100% on the Time Machine level, you’ll see some serious…ly cool animation!
“I hope everyone enjoys the Back to the FutureSpecial Pack and look out for the shark!” Meek says.
We hope you’ll love all the wit and wonder of the Back to the FutureSpecial Pack! Xbox Game Pass members can play the original PowerWash Simulator as part of their membership. The Back to the Future Special Pack is available now for a separate purchase on the Xbox Store (a copy of PowerWash Simulator is required to play).
PowerWash Simulator Back to the Future Special Pack
Great Scott! Crank that water pressure to 88 miles per hour and travel back in time to hose down iconic movie sets from the Back to the Future trilogy!
The future may be ‘heavy’, but the past sure is dirty. You’ve arrived on set in the nick of time to make every legendary location sparkle and every prop ‘pop’, even if it takes a whole 1.21 gigawatts of pressure washing power!
With filming schedules running tight, you’re in for one electrifying ride to spray down everything from the Time Machine to the Holomax Theater before you’re “OUTATIME”.
Make power wash history by blasting every spec of dirt and grime from heavy use, debris from explosive scenes and temporal ice from… well, we’re not actually sure where that came from.
Wash and explore five new levels:
– Doc Brown’s Van
– Time Machine
– Hill Valley Clocktower
– Holomax Theater
– Doc’s Time Train
Well, better get to it! There’s no time like the present! Or the past, or the future for that matter.
Release the Pressure with PowerWash Simulator! Wash away your worries with the soothing sounds of high-pressure water. Fire up your power washer and blast away every speck of dirt and grime you can find. Build your own power-washing business and unlock new tools, upgrades and more – all with the simple satisfaction of power-washing to a sparkling finish.
TIME TO CLEAN UP THE NEIGHBOURHOOD
Build up your business in Career Mode and complete a variety of dirty jobs across the dusty town of Muckingham. There’s no right or wrong; no time pressure or final score, just you and the tools you need to soak away your stress. Want a clean start? Chill out and replay your favourite jobs in Free Play.
POWERWASH AND CHILL
Relax, unwind, and play with friends in Online Co-Op! Lend a helping hand to your closest pal in Career Mode, or up to 6 friends can splash around in Free Play, tackling any job the host has already completed.
KEEP IT CLEAN
For those looking for a little more pressure, beat your best scores in Challenge Mode! Fight grime in different scenarios; wash against the clock in Time Challenge or test your accuracy by using as little water as possible in Water Challenge.
GOOD CLEAN FUN
Graffiti, grime, moss, and mould, no dirt is too tough for your range of washers, nozzles, cleaners, and extensions. Different dirt types have different levels of toughness, so make sure you’re getting tactical with your equipment. Feeling fancy? Then customise your look with washer skins and gloves!
RELAXATION, SATISFACTION GUARANTEED
From casual, clean freaks to players looking to get into the nitty-gritty, everyone can pick up and play to feel immersed. Absorb the relaxing atmosphere and stress-free pace as you strip dirt from patios, pavements, vehicles, and public parks. Stress gets to us all, so sit back, relax, and wash your worries down the drain.
THE WORLD IS YOUR CANVAS
Create art by cleaning the way you want. Your nozzles are your brushes; the neighbourhood is your canvas. Unleash your creative talents and transform ordinary dirt into exceptional artwork. Share your techniques and showcase your power-washing prowess and mud-caked masterpieces!
In celebration of the 10th anniversary of The Last of Us, Naughty Dog has teamed up with Japanese illustrator Yoshitaka Amano to release a limited-edition series of prints of Joel and Ellie in Amano’s signature style.
Yoshitaka Amano x The Last of Us Prints
The print was created by Amano using pencil and watercolors, mediums in which he’s both well-versed and well-known. There are four different versions available for preorder on the site:
Deluxe Edition, measuring 28 x 39″ on archival paper with special paint layers.
Hand-signed Deluxe Edition, limited to 30 pieces, of which “25 will be sold directly to consumers” and the remaining 5 will be randomly sent out to people who ordered the Deluxe.
Premium Edition is similar to the Deluxe, but lacks the special paint layers.
Standard Edition on 20 x 28″, non-archival paper. Think of a high-quality poster. Cook and Becker calls it its “most budget-friendly option.”
Amano is perhaps best known in gaming for his illustrations on the Final Fantasy series over the decades. His style is instantly recognizable, and The Last of Us is arguably one of the biggest properties in the world of gaming today. Having Amano lend his style to The Last of Us shifts the usual, gritty versions of Joel and Ellie and gives them almost a story-book quality.
If you’re an Amano fan or a Last of Us fan, this is an extremely cool piece of art to appreciate. If I had to guess, given the fervor of Amano’s fanbase, these prints will probably sell out fast.
Black Friday season is once again upon us, folks, but before you sigh with a deep-seated sense of dread, there’s good news afoot. From now until November 30th, we’ve shaved 20% off the price of our annual RPS supporter memberships, which means you can pick up 12 months of ad-free browsing (and exclusive articles and game keys if you pick our Premium tier) on the cheap. All you need to do is head on over to our sign-up page and pick the subscription that suits you best.
Boutique video game publisher Annapurna has announced its first acquisition, 24 Bit Games, for an undisclosed fee.
Based in Johannesburg, 24 Bit Games is described as South Africa’s “largest and most successful” game company, and has worked to support development on a number of Annapurna games, including the recently released and superb Cocoon.
The acquisition of 24 Bit Games expands Annapurna’s Interactive Division, the company said, and will help the studio grow its development team. “Annapurna has been working with 24 Bit for many years, and we value not only the caliber of their work, but their team as well,” said Deborah Mars, Co-Head, Annapurna Interactive. “They’ve always shared our commitment to quality, and by taking our partnership to the next level we feel like anything is possible.”
“We deeply respect Annapurna’s approach to curating a portfolio of great games, its value system around building and extending IP, as well as the company culture,” said Luke Lamothe, CEO of 24 Bit Games. “We have truly enjoyed working together over the years, and we believe we are joining Annapurna at an exciting moment of growth and expansion.“
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Alright, fine, if you’re consulting a list of the best early Black Friday gaming PC deals, it’s probably already too late for me to convince you to build a PC from scratch. “But it works out cheaper!” I’d plead, sobbing, into disinterested ears. So be it – at least with the Black Friday sales going on, a prebuilt rig can be much better value that it would otherwise. The PCs on this list, some of which have several hundred pounds/dollars off their usual prices, are testament to that.
Former Mass Effect writer Mac Walters has founded a new studio to develop “AAA action adventure games with an emphasis on narrative and worldbuilding”.
The new studio, called Worlds Untold, is backed by Chinese game firm NetEase, and is based in Vancouver, Canada as a fully remote company.
“We’re creating incredible and meaningful stories that we believe are best told and experienced through play,” Walters commented. “We are starting by crafting worlds that we all dream of discovering and then will put the player in the leading role of the most unforgettable adventures. The team at NetEase Games shares our vision and passion to utilize leading edge technology to create the best possible new games. Their teams’ support and creative freedom affords us the opportunity to deliver on that vision.”
It sounds like the hope is Worlds Untold will build franchises that go beyond games. “Walters and his team built Worlds Untold to create IPs with depth and possibility that can’t be contained in a single game, or even a single medium,” NetEase said. “The team’s debut project is underway, a near future, action adventure game in a breathtaking world filled with mystery and exploration.”
Worlds Untold includes a number of industry veterans, such as audio director Sotaro Tojima, who has worked on Metal Gear Solid and Halo; head of production Elizabeth Lehtonen, who has worked on Dragon Age, The Sims, and Angry Birds; and head of art Ramil Sunga, who has more than two decades of creative experience in various concept art roles on Mass Effect Andromeda, Anthem, and the entire lineup Dragon Age games. Head of technology Ben Goldstein has nearly two decades in the games industry leading projects such as the next generation Xbox One version of Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, the PlayStation 4 version of For Honor, and most recently worked at Tesla and Cruise building out their respective simulation platforms.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
The ocean planet of GUP-14 is not a happy place. Its seabed has been gunked up with piles of trash, globs of purple gunge and nasty clouds of micro-plastics, all because an industrial megacorp couldn’t be bothered to clean up after themselves after bleeding it for resources. That megacorp’s since upped sticks to, sadly, continue their terrible ways somewhere else in the solar system, but calling out these bad practices (beyond them being obviously bad and not good for the planet) is not really Loddlenaut‘s concern here.
Rather, your job is to simply clean up this mess with your array of high-tech gadgetry, healing its polluted environments so: a) it’s not a grim, purple hellscape anymore; b) native, axolotl-like loddle creatures can move back in and prosper. It’s simple, satisfying work that’s designed to make you feel warm and fuzzy inside without having to think too hard. But its straightforward, frictionless tale may leave some wishing it had just a little more bite, and less of a sense that you’re laying the ground for some other faceless corpo power to go and splurge all over it again.
The latest Japanese charts are in from Famitsu (via Gematsu) and it has been yet another strong one for Super Mario Bros. Wonder, which once again out-jumps the competition to land in the top spot with another 65,017 copies sold.
While Mario’s latest 2D adventure closes in on the one milly mark in Japan, it has been a noticeably good week for PlayStation with the releases of Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III hitting both the PS4 and PS5 to dominate the top half of the charts. Like A Dragon’s next-gen launch narrowly misses out on the top spot with 63,319 sales, while Call of Duty’s PS5 release lands in fourth with 22,132.
