Author: Game Infliction
Counter-Strike 2 closed beta updated with overhauled Overpass and Wingman mode
Counter-Strike 2 is in closed beta while Valve test its new features, revised maps and upgraded engine. That limited test has just been updated to swap out two maps, Nuke and Office, with two others, Vertigo and a hugely overhauled Overpass, as well as to add the two-on-two Wingman mode.
Diablo 4 RockLove Jewelry Is Coming Exclusively to the IGN Store
Here’s some good news for fans of Diablo IV, the latest installment in Blizzard’s popular action RPG franchise: A limited collection of handcrafted jewelry based on the game is coming exclusively to the IGN Store. It’s from RockLove Jewelry and Blizzard Entertainment, and it includes a number of high quality pieces based on characters from the game. You can register here to receive an exclusive discount and early access to the collection starting Thursday, July 20.
Sign Up for Early Access to RockLove’s Diablo 4 Jewelry Collection
The Diablo IV jewelry collection consists of five pieces based on the characters Lilith and Inarius. There’s a necklace and a ring inspired by the rogue angel Inarius. Lilith, queen of the succubi, is the inspiration for a ring, collar, and a pair of earrings.
RockLove is a jewelry company that specializes in licensed pieces. You can find RockLove jewelry based on properties like Marvel, Disney, Star Wars, Pokemon, and many more.
The Diablo IV jewely will be available in limited quantities, so sign up for early access for the best chance to add these pieces to your very own collection. You’ll also receive an exclusive discount.
The Pokémon Company Reveals Exclusive Figures For This Year’s World Championships
Gotta buy ’em all.
The Pokémon World Championships will get underway in Yokohama next month from 8th-14th August, and TPC has started to reveal some of the exclusive merch that you will be able to pick up if you are lucky enough to be in attendance.
Just today, The Pokémon Company took to Twitter to share a first look at a range of figures that will be available exclusively at the Pokémon Centre Worlds Store during the event. Featuring Pikachu, Sprigatito, Fuecoco and Quaxly, the four statues show each of the ‘mon preparing a tasty snack — apart from Pikachu, he just looks happy to be there.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Soapbox: Switch Is Only A Classic Or Two From Being The Perfect PlayStation History Lesson
No Vita necessary.
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they’ve been chewing over. Today, Ethan ruminates on how, over time, Switch has become an excellent teaching tool for Sony neophytes…
Here’s a truth diehard proponents of the console wars won’t readily admit: the grass is always greener on the other side. For any consumer devoted to a single ecosystem — be it Nintendo, PlayStation, Xbox, or PC — the slew of exclusive games their platform of choice receives is often the single most important factor in keeping them invested. Of course, exclusives are a double-edged sword. For every hot new game on one system that players receive, there’s another game unique to another system that remains tantalizingly out of reach.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Reviving a Cult-Classic. Lisa: Definitive Edition Comes to Xbox
Bringing Lisa to Xbox
Hey, I’m Austin Jorgensen, the creator of LISA , and I’m excited to finally bring LISA to Xbox fans around the world alongside Serenity Forge!
Lisa is a side-scrolling RPG filled with quirky characters and moral desolation, told in two parts: The Painful and The Joyful. These games take you on a journey that forces you to confront yourself through tragedy, comedy, and brutality. Lisa takes place in Olathe, a place that’s still reeling from “The White Flash,” an apocalyptic event that wiped out all women. The resulting land and its inhabitants vary wildly, from the quirky and funny to the cruel and twisted. Along your journey and all its encounters, there’s one constant: consequences. Whether you are greedy, selfless, risk-taking or shy, the game will make you remember those choices… Over and over again.
As far as the game itself goes, this is the definitive version of Lisa. It has been completely rebuilt in a modern engine and filled with visual polish, never-before-heard music tracks (including music from Lisa: The First ), and new content across both The Painful and The Joyful. Altogether, these additions express a final vision for Lisa. But I don’t want to say too much–I hope you discover it on your own.
Revisiting a Cult-Classic Ten Years after Launch
Originally the project was just porting the game to consoles. Mentally, I thought I was done with the game–I had finished it years ago and had started on future projects. But as I worked with Serenity Forge, questions about certain design choices came up. As I started to address these issues, I had to explore what it meant for the game’s story. And after almost ten years away from Lisa, I found myself facing down my old writing. Pretty soon, I started noticing there was a little more I wanted to say about Brad, Olathe, and its people.
Lisa deals with themes regarding mental health, personhood, and purpose, and the way those interact with problems like generational trauma, suicide, and abuse. Behind this and all the humor, there’s a meaning. When I finished Lisa, I left the story very open-ended. Revisiting the game with fresh eyes has given me the chance to really expand on the meaning I was originally aiming for. So alongside remastering the game, we started working on new content, the final piece of the puzzle, and I’m really excited for old and new fans to experience Lisa in its complete form. At the end of the day, I hope that with the new story (in all its forms), perspectives are changed and someone out there is able to find meaning in the game–to find something that really resonates with them.
Delivering the ‘Pain’ with Xbox Features
Bringing the game to consoles has been a fun ride. The team at Serenity Forge has brought in features for the Xbox release like a 120 FPS mode and pixel-perfect upscaling for full HD displays and beyond. One of my favorite moments was testing the game and experiencing it with proper controller vibration for the first time. Every stumble, fall off a cliff, and machine-gun punch got more ‘oomph’ than ever. The pain felt even more real.
Keeping True to the Original
Despite the new content, and remastering of the game, I want to assure old-time fans of the games that this is still Lisa. Serenity Forge and I have worked extremely hard to keep the game as close to the original as possible. That said, there were a few jokes in the original that we’ve updated, as I think they actually distract from the specific kind of humor that Olathe is known for (like the Black Salvation Ranger scene). Every change is one that I made personally. As a result, this new version is what I truly believe in, and I think the love I’ve poured into this title will be obvious to all.
Lisa has always been about perspective. With the release of the Definitive Edition, new fans will be welcomed into Olathe with fresh eyes, and returning fans get the chance to help Brad all over again–perhaps making different decisions along the way. I hope that everybody will learn something new about themselves. So please check out Lisa: Definitive Edition when it releases on July 18th on Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S. Thank you all for the support throughout the years. Lisa is finally complete.
LISA: Definitive Edition
Serenity Forge
$24.99
Explore Olathe and unmask its twisted secrets with LISA: The Definitive Edition, including the original narrative-driven RPG LISA: The Painful and its sequel LISA: The Joyful.
LISA: The Painful – Definitive Edition is the miserable, hilarious RPG of your wildest nightmares. Undertake a relentless journey through the post-apocalyptic wasteland of Olathe. Beneath its charming exterior is a world full of disgust and moral desolation, where you will learn what kind of person you are by being FORCED to make choices that permanently affect the gameplay. Make sacrifices to keep your party members alive, whether it’s taking a beating for them, losing limbs, or some other inhuman torture. In this world, you will learn that being selfish and heartless is the only way to survive…
LISA: The Joyful – Definitive Edition is the soul-twisting conclusion to the quirky side-scrolling RPG series, LISA. Explore Olathe in your quest to punish the world that has treated you wrong. Along the way, learn about this strange land, your family, and the monsters/men in power. The world’s out to get you… now, get it back.
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A new era begins: EA Sports FC 24 launches September 29 on PS4 and PS5
EA Sports FC 24 launches September 29 on PS4 and PS5 and is focused on delivering an authentic football experience and gameplay innovations to usher in a new era of virtual football. Behind this are three key technological advancements: HyperMotion V, enhanced PlayStyles and a radically overhauled Frostbite engine. But the exciting new features certainly don’t stop there. Get ready for elite women’s players to join Ultimate Team, create unique versions of players using Evolutions, and enjoy cross-play for the first time in Clubs and Volta Football and play alongside your friends across same-generation platforms.
HyperMotion V*
HyperMotion has been developed using volumetric data taken from over 180 professional matches to produce realistic animations. Video can now also be captured without athletes having to wear motion capture suits. Every in-match team or player movement is captured by cameras in stadiums, with that data used to produce authentic animations for EA Sports FC 24. Your favorite footballer therefore moves in the game exactly as they would during a real match.
This technology also calculates ball physics, using adaptive AI to ensure that the football’s mid-air and rebounding movements are fully realistic. It also enables footballers’ hand movements to be recorded using a glove and flawlessly recreates those details in the game.
PlayStyles
Every player moves around the pitch and controls the ball in a distinctive way. Real-match data collected by Opta and other sources has been optimized to bring footballers’ unique skills to life on the virtual pitch, via individual PlayStyles. These PlayStyles unlock many actions for forwards and defenders, such as power shots and elásticos while dribbling. Select players even have PlayStyles+ moves, as benefiting their status as best-in-class and which showcases their dazzling individual skills.
Frostbite
No football game has ever looked as realistic as EA Sports FC 24 as a result of the revamped Frostbite engine. Using new character models, the AI Sapient technology delivers anatomically correct bodies with authentic proportions and fluid animations, the GPU Cloth feature recreates amazingly detailed clothing where muscles can be seen under the fabric and shirts move like real materials, and the new lighting feature with enhanced contrast and greater detail makes encounters feel even more lifelike, therefore providing a superb stadium atmosphere. The Elevated Matchday Experience with dynamic intros also plays a major role here. A short clip will give you a glimpse of the changing rooms and warm-ups and will of course show the teams walking onto the pitch. It’s like a televised match come to life.
Ultimate Team with Women’s Football Stars
A true world first: EA Sports FC 24 brings together male and female players on the same pitch. In Ultimate Team, you can choose from more than 1600 female players, including icons and heroes from the annals of women’s football, to strengthen your squad and mold your dream team with both men and women. You can therefore create a truly unique fantasy eleven.
Evolutions: create your own club legend
If your favorite player’s ratings aren’t to your liking, you can create a unique version of them for the first time ever. Pick a player who meets the criteria for Evolutions, complete the required challenges and permanently improve your player’s ratings, individual skills, PlayStyles and even change your Player Item’s color and animation so that everyone recognises your legend straight away.
Career Mode, Clubs and Volta Football with exciting new features
If you plan to focus on your career as a player or manager, then there are new features to enjoy in these modes, too. As a player heading to the top, you will receive support along the way from a player agent who will recommend transfers to you and help you achieve your career goals to make it at your dream club.
You have even more options to lead your club to glory when playing as a manager. Choose from seven tactical strategies, such as tiki-taka or counter-attacking, appoint assistant coaches, prepare players as effectively as possible for upcoming matches, observe games from the touchline or follow a star player during the action and celebrate your victories in impressively staged, dynamic scenes.
Clubs and Volta Football are also back. These popular modes are cross-play-compatible for the first time, so now you can take on your friends if they play EA Sports FC 24 on a different (same-generation) platform.
With updated commentary provided by Guy Mowbray and Sue Smith, Clubs with league seasons, and a streamlined, redesigned start menu, EA Sports FC 24 has even more new features to show off and, in the buildup to the game’s release on September 29, you can certainly expect to discover more.
*HyperMotion V technology only available on PlayStation 5.
First Three Yakuza Games About to Disappear From PlayStation Plus Games Catalogue
Sony has revealed the modern console versions of the first three Yakuza games — Yakuza 0, Yakuza Kiwami, and Yakuza Kiwami 2 — are about to leave the PlayStation Plus Games Catalogue.
As reported by Push Square, the PlayStation 5’s Last Chance to Play section has been updated to reveal 10 new games leaving the service on August 15. This includes Borderlands 3, Nidhogg, DCL – The Game, GRIP, The Crew 2, 8-Bit Armies, Carmageddon: Max Damage, and the three Yakuza games.
The removal of these games doesn’t bode well for the remaining Yakuza games on the PS Plus Games Catalogue, though Sony is yet to confirm whether or not Yakuza 3 through Yakuza: Like a Dragon will also be removed.
The August end date will mark one year since the first three games were added to the service, with the remaining entries added in the following months, though it’s worth noting the most recent Yakuza: Like a Dragon was added alongside the original three games but isn’t being removed next month.
IGN gave Yakuza 0, which is a prequel to the original Yakuza story, an 8/10 in our review, while Yakuza Kiwami earned a 7/10 and Kiwami 2 earned an 8/10. The most recent entry, which also changed the series name from Yakuza to Like a Dragon in the west, earned a 7/10.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
Celeste and Toem join Game Pass soon, while Marvel’s Avengers leaves
We’ve just passed the middle of the month (and the year?), which means it’s time for another wave of Game Pass games to come. For starters, we have a tasty indie trio coming to the service today. Then to cap off July, one of the best platformers in recent memory Celeste rejoins the fun, while Marvel’s Avengers waves goodbye.
Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart PC Requirements Revealed, Does Not Demand an SSD
Sony has revealed the PC requirements for Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, which does not require an SSD to run despite this being a central part of the original PlayStation 5 version’s marketing.
Julian Huijbregts, online community specialist at porting studio Nixxes Software, announced the requirements on the PlayStation Blog. To run Rift Apart on Very Low settings (720p and 30fps), users will require an Intel Core i3-8100 or AMD Ryzen 3 3100 CPU, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 or AMD Radeon RX 470 GPU, and 8GB of RAM.
Rift Apart can also be run from 75GB of HDD space on these settings, but the Recommended and higher specs all demand 75GB of SSD space. Running on a HDD at all is a stark difference from how Sony originally marketed the game though.
In its initial announcement, the company claimed Rift Apart was “designed around PS5’s ultra-high speed SSD”, adding that “players will seamlessly travel through different dimensions in mid-gameplay, thanks to PS5’s ultra-high speed SSD”.
Dimension hopping on Very Low settings seemingly won’t be as quick as it is on PS5 though. While the game “can be enjoyed using an HDD and the minimum system requirements”, the blog post said players are encouraged “to use an SSD in combination with the recommended system requirements or higher to experience the game’s signature dimension-hopping gameplay as originally intended”.
Recommended settings (1080p and 60fps) require an Intel Core i5-8400 or AMD Ryzen 5 3600 CPU, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 or AMD Radeon RX 5700 GPU, and 16GB of RAM.
While High and Amazing Ray Tracing settings are available too (and can be seen above), those looking to experience the fanciest of graphics on the Ultimate Ray Tracing setting (4K and 60fps) will require an Intel Core i7-12700K or AMD Ryzen 9 5900X CPU, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 GPU, and 32GB of RAM.
The PC version of Rift Apart, which will be available via Steam and the Epic Games Store on July 26, was announced in May 2023. It will join other previously PS5 exclusive games like God of War and The Last of Us Part 1 on the platform, though the latter launched with myriad issues that earned the beloved remake a “mostly negative” rating.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.